The Blood Wars
by frostflower314
Summary: The Blood Wars were fought over the last surviving humans after an epidemic swept the globe. In Forks, Bella is the only human left alive.  How will the Cullens protect her when starving vampires are waging war over the last few drops of human blood.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm just playing with the story and characters; no infringement intended. Thanks Stephanie.

The Blood Wars

Chapter One:

Bella pushed her hair back with blistered hands and then used the back of the shovel to smooth the mound of fresh earth over Charlie's grave. It had taken her four hours to dig the shallow hole and then another two hours to fill it in after she had dragged his body from the upstairs bedroom to the flower garden behind the house. She used the quilt her mother made her to wrap him. Tears kept falling on the little yellow flowers that she picked to place on his grave, and she wiped them off the fragile petals wondering where they came from. She was too numb to cry.

She had found her father this morning early when she went up to see why he hadn't come down to breakfast. She called for help. She called the station, the hospital, school... everyone she knew. No one answered. Her neighbors wouldn't come to the door, so she assumed they were dead as well. She drove into town. The streets of Forks were abandoned except for a few parked cars, some empty, some with corpses for drivers. Was she the only one left? The quiet was oppressive as it reigned over what was now a ghost town. She went back home to bury Charlie. She had known this was coming.

Eliot was right: When the world ended, it was not with a bang but a whimper. The virus had killed half of the human population in one month as it rampaged its way around the globe. Airborne, it traveled by plane, by ship, by the very wind itself, and it moved so quickly through the larger cities that the stench of the unburied dead drifted into the silent sky like a thick dark cloud of misery. She and Charlie had kept up with the news until there was no longer anyone left to report it. They waited hoping that their remote little town would be spared, but sometime last night, the killing winds had shifted in their direction and now there was no one left... except for her as far as she could tell.

She knelt in the dirt for a timeless eternity and wondered what she should do. Why was she spared? Standing up, she started to brush the dirt from her hands and realized with a grimace that her blisters were broken and bleeding. She brushed the back of one hand across her forehead, and that's when she saw him. He was standing at the edge of the forest. His eyes were black and his form was as motionless as a large cat about to pounce. It was Edward Cullen.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the story; just playing with the characters. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks Stephanie.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 2

Bella had met Edward when she first moved to Forks several weeks before.

She did not like him.

She remembered that first day in Biology when she had shivered under the relentless glare of his black, black eyes and wondered what she had done to make him hate her so much. She had heard of love at first sight, not that she believed in it, but hate at first sight? Not so much. The next day she had asked to be given a different lab partner. Edward had not returned to class for several days. When he did, she had steered well clear of his center of gravity. And yet here he was ... violent intent smoldering in the unblinking and steady gaze of his dark eyes. For long minutes, Bella stood frozen by shock, exhaustion, and a deep fear of his otherness. His absolute stillness communicated predator patience, like a spider in a web or a stalking tiger who has seen his prey and calculates which way his intended meal might run.

Suddenly, he was beside her. In less time than it took her to blink, he was standing less than a foot away. How he moved that quickly, she couldn't surmise. She took a deep breath, giving some serious thought to escape, when his arm shot forward and grasped her wrist.

"Don't. Even. Think. About It!" he growled. He turned and pulled her onto his back, pausing to give her one last threatening look over his shoulder. "If you faint, I can't promise I won't drop you," he

bit the words off angrily, pronouncing them as if he were trying to hold his breath and was running out of air with each word that spilled from his mouth.

And he ran.

He ran so fast, the trees were a blur of green that swirled around Bella's dizzy brain. She knew she should be struggling, should be screaming, should be questioning her very understanding of the laws of physics, because surely there was no way a human being could be moving this fast. But then, maybe that was the problem... her understanding that is...her mind. Surely, she was mad. The events of the past few months and days and hours had caused her to let slip the reigns of sanity. None of this was real. With that thought, she understood there was no need for terror.

The surreal quality of the situation made her relax like a person in the middle of a nightmare who suddenly realizes that it's all a dream and gives up all fear. She would wake up pretty soon, and it would all go away... the plague... Charlie's death... being kidnapped by Edward. The sun would come up, and her father would tap on her door telling her breakfast was ready. She would roll over in the narrow bed she had slept in every time she stayed with her father since she had been a little girl, and everything would be normal. She sighed against Edward's cold neck and settled against him, surrendering herself to the dream. He flinched as her warm weight relaxed against his back.

"Strange," Bella mused vaguely. "In nightmares the monster never, ever flinches away from his prey." The spinning foliage of the great forest, the wind whipping her hair around her face, the the delicious smell of Edward's neck all swirled around and around in her head forming a great well of sensation into which she fell headlong. A great roaring in her ears was the last sound she heard as she finally succumbed to the blessed, blessed realm of peaceful unconsciousness.

Bella did not see Edward's eyes go wide as he felt her body go limp. He slowed enough to gently pull her around and into his arms. Her head fell back over his arm, her long brown hair almost sweeping the ground. He stopped for a moment in a small clearing. The sun shot a million little rainbow sparkles of light from his skin outward and all around them. He gently placed a kiss on each of her closed eyes and on the soft spot that throbbed beneath her ear. He took a deep breath that scorched his throat and then headed to the house. They were all waiting on the porch as he carried her up the driveway and climbed the stairs. Their nostrils flared. His mother's delicate hand was pressed against the spot where her own heart used to beat, but she was listening intently for the sound of Bella's heart.

"She's alive!" Esme gasped.

"She's alive," Edward affirmed as he carefully handed her over into Carlisle's arms. "Take her," he muttered. "I have to hunt." And he left them tstaring after him as he fled into the forest.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm just having fun playing with Stephanie's story. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks Stephanie.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 3

Edward had drained two large deer before he made a final sweep through Forks on the way home. He paused in the bright sunlight on Main Street. no longer concerned that someone might see his sparkling personality. Tilting his head slightly, he listened for any small sound that might indicate the presence of any more survivors. His heart ached silently for the incomprehensible loss of life, not just here, but everywhere.

Revelation: it was the end of the world. He had a sudden desire to go through every building and gather the fragile bodies of the dead, to give them all a decent burial rather than leaving them to rot ignominiously in their homes. He wanted to do that, but he dared not.

He knew what was coming.

While the virus hadn't affected vampires directly, it had completely decimated their food supply. They had always been at the top of the food chain, but what good would that do them now. No one knew whether or not vampires could die from starvation, but Edward knew what extreme thirst could do to their state of mind. The vast majority of his kind were not vegetarian. They craved human blood with a ferocity that would motivate them to hunt relentlessly for any surviving humans. They would go through every human settlement searching for survivors, and the dead did not bury the dead despite the old saying. If they found no bodies left exposed and rotting in Forks, these vampires would come looking for whoever buried the bodies. They would find his family. They would smell Bella. It had to appear as if Forks suffered the same fate as all of the other towns and cities throughout the world. No survivors. And any vampire that stumbled upon their house in the forest must die!

He and his family had watched the news around the clock until the stations went off the air, one by one. All other programming had been suspended They watched one reporter die at his desk when the virus took him as suddenly as a thunderclap. His eyes went wide. Blood spilled from his nose, ears and eyes, and his head fell forward onto the papers he had been holding in front of him. No cough, no sneeze, as if the virus had mutated to enter the blood stream and go straight to the brain instead of the lungs. No one came to help the reporter. After a stunned and saddened interval of time, Emmett changed channels.

Other stations held on a while longer. but all the final broadcasts were just panic stricken reports and ramblings of the last days of a mass extinction. Just before the plague swept though North America though, there was a report from a city in Spain about one man who had survived when everyone else in his city had died. A helicopter pilot had seen him. Edward figured it was a vampire on the hunt, but who knew. The reporter didn't mention rainbow sparkles. There were only vague reports of the phenomenon, no proof or photos of the man, but Carlisle surmised that in every epidemic there would always be a few individuals who were either resistant or immune altogether. Astoundingly, Bella was the one, in Forks at least, who was immune. Edward was tempted to thank God for that miracle or miracles, but where was God? What kind of God would allow such an annihilation of Man? Oh yeah, that's right, the one who sent the Deluge, he thought bitterly, but he still breathed thanks for her survival... just in case.

As Edward flitted from house to house listening for the sound of a human heart, he thought about Her. She. Bella. His Singer. How many nights after that day in biology class had he stood for hours at the edge of her yard, shadowed by the trees of the great forest, listening to the sound of her heart beating, smelling the unattainable and exquisite blood that course through her delicate veins, torturing himself with fears of her approaching death. He wanted to just take her and run, but who could outrun the wind? Not even Edward Cullen. Why fill her last days with even more terror when she could be here comforted by her familiar surroundings and supported with the love of her father.

He had certainly thought about turning her... thought about it every minute of every day and night, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. They had no relationship whatsoever. He was just the boy who spent an hour staring at her as if he wanted to eat her in biology class one day. It wasn't as if they had ever even had a conversation. She must have asked for a new lab partner after class that same day. Being the only daughter of the Chief of Police, she obviously got what she wanted and had been reassigned to the back of the room to work with a skinny, pimply, red-headed boy by the time he had returned from Denali. They had never spoken again.

What was he supposed to do? Just knock on her door when the plague began and say, "Hi, I'm your friendly, neighborhood vampire and I would so like to bite your neck and turn you into a vampire too so you won't have to die of the plague." Edward's mouth turned down into a bitter smirk as he thought about how that would have worked out. Besides, he would have drained her at the first taste anyway.

And being a monster had never made him anything but miserable...the constant thirst... the almost certain loss of his soul...the loneliness. God! The loneliness! No! Turning Bella into a soulless blood crazed monster was not the answer. Not when she had no choice about the matter. He hadn't gotten to choose, and choice was paramount in this matter. The problem was, Carlisle only turned those who were too close to death to make a choice. Edward didn't want to go there. Thinking about what that implied about Carlisle's thinking about vampiric existence was definitely not where he wanted to go right now.

Alice had argued for him to change her, but when he refused, unwilling to risk Bella's soul in order to save her body, she had just smiled and walked out of the room as if she had already seen what was coming and didn't want to waste any more of her time.

Yes, he had known Bella would die, and he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He had been terrified to find her body when they had finally found out about Forks. Carlisle had called the hospital earlier in the afternoon about a case and had gotten no answer. He went to check and the look on his face when he returned was something Edward would never forget if he truly lived forever.

He had to go see for himself. His plan was to bury her. But she hadn't died. Instead, he had found her digging a grave for her father in the garden behind the house. As he went from door to door checking for signs of life in Forks, he thought about how she had looked weeping over those yellow flowers on Charlie's grave. And she had not fought him as he carried her off on his back as if she trusted him somehow to take her where she needed to go. Yeah right! Shock, no doubt!

At the edge of town, he stopped and turned his head back for a moment to ponder the irony of his grief for a species that he had frequently felt only contempt for in the past. He listened for the petty fears, jealousies, and complaints that had flooded his mind for a hundred years like an endless river of annoying chatter and heard nothing. Nothing! Only a vast silence filled his mind. It should have been soothing, but it wasn't.

He had never been able to read Bella's mind. That had been her gift to him... that and the smell of blood so irresistibly sweet it felt like a siren's call to heaven every time he was near her.

Yes, he had always considered his gift of reading minds a curse. But now that he could hear his own thoughts singularly and clearly for a change, they seemed small and alone, rattling around in his melancholy mind where so many had spoken before. What a price for peace!

He sighed heavily and headed home. He knew there were plenty of voices there to pester his brain. Even before he left to hunt, he had heard them worrying about how to protect Bella. As far as they knew, she was the last surviving member of an extinct species. How could they hide her well enough to keep the thousands of thirst crazed vampires in the world from finding her. How would she deal with the trauma of Charlie's death and the greater trauma of being surrounded by bloodthirsty vampires?

And Carlisle had already been moving into quest mode. He was ever the crusader.. a protector... a servant of mankind. He was already pondering the possibility of finding other humans who were immune to the virus, in order to save the human race from total extinction. He was already planning to find a mate for Bella... a human mate …. to mate with Bella! A low growl rumbled involuntarily from deep inside Edward's throat. "Mine!" he thought fiercely as a red mist colored the whole forest around him. He stopped and shook his head to clear it. Where had that come from? And then on he sped towards the house in the forest that now seemed more like home to him than ever. Bella was there.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Just playing with Stephanie's toys. No intention to violate copyright. Thanks for sharing, Stephanie.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 4

Bella woke up in a cloud, a fluffy white, sweet smelling cloud. Her fingers flexed, clutching the crisp texture of the cotton sheet that obscured her view. She could hear someone whispering, and then a smiling face came to hover over her.

"Bella?" the woman inquired softly. "Are you awake enough to eat something?

Bella sat up. She was in a strange bedroom. Did she know this woman? She saw Alice Cullen standing by the door and remembered her from school. This must be Esme Cullen, Alice's mother...Edward's mother. She remembered that strange flight through the trees.

"Where's Edward?" she croaked hoarsely, and Esme immediately brought a glass of cool water to her lips. She was so thirsty.

"He's just outside in the hall," Esme told her as she put the glass down and straightened the sheets and pillows.

"Charlie..." Bella murmured in desolation, looking up into the woman's sympathetic eyes.

"I'm so sorry. " She placed a cool hand of maternal comfort on Bella's cheek.

"You need to eat something, my dear." Esme looked over at Alice who disappeared and then reappeared in less than a second with a tray of food.

Bella blinked. She looked at Esme for clarification of what she had seen. None came.

"Do your hands hurt?" she asked calmly, redirecting Bella's attention, as if seeing her daughter move at the speed of light was a normal everyday sort of thing.

"Carlisle cleaned the broken blisters on your right hand and put some ointment on them. He said it was best to leave them unbandaged for now."

"I'm fine." Bella murmured noticing a slight stinging in her right palm. Her left hand was also sore but the blisters there hadn't burst.

The woman helped her sit up. Taking the tray from Alice, she dropped its legs carefully across Bella's lap.

Looking down at the food, Bella knew there was no way she could manage to chew, much less swallow anything. Nausea churned in her throat and stomach. She shook her head in apology.

"I just can't," she grimaced. Thank you anyway, Mrs. Cullen."

"You have to eat, Bella." Alice chirped from the foot of the bed. "You'll get sick. At least try the apple, or a little of the soup. Are you in any pain, other than your hands? "

"I'm fine," Bella said softly. " This looks great, but really I'm not hungry. I just want to go home, you know? I don't know why Edward brought me here." She pushed back the covers and looked for her shoes. She wanted... no she needed to have familiar surroundings. She had to get back to the house so she could think. She was trying to stand up when Edward appeared at the open door. His golden eyes shot to black instantly, and she sat back down on the edge of the bed remembering her fear of him.

"Esme, Alice," he commanded softly, " Would you please excuse us? I need to talk to Bella."

Esme opened her mouth to object, but Alice took her arm and ushered her to the door.

"Shhhh," the pixie told her mother. "Let them talk," she whispered with a smile, and she waved to Bella before pulling Esme out into the hall and softly closing the door behind her.

Edward stood with his back pressed against the door for a long minute or two. His bronze hair looked windblown, disheveled. Their eyes... his, suddenly golden again... hers, dark brown and bewildered, tangled and held for a long moment as they watched each other from opposite sides of the room.

"I want to go home." Bella murmured breaking the silent spell that bound them. She wonder what time it was. How long had she slept? She could see the sun beginning to set through the window. Had it been just this morning when she had found Charlie? Her heart ached, not just emotionally, but physically ached for the loss of her father. It made her feel petty and small when she considered how many millions had died. But her father... she could not help but feel the loss of her father... and probably Renee also by now. Oh God! Her mother too, most likely gone. The last time she talked to Renee before the phones went dead, she and Phil were going to try to make it to Forks to be with Bella for the end. That was a week ago. She never showed.

"I want to go home." Desperation in her voice now. Hysteria loomed, making her feel faint.

"No one's there."

"There may be others."

"Trust me. No one else in Forks survived. Didn't you watch the news before the stations went off the air. No reports of survivors. You're the only one left anywhere as far as we know."

"No, you're alive... Esme and Alice... that proves there may be others. They may need help. I have to go. My mother might come." She moved the tray aside and got up, standing unsteadily by the bed. Looking down at the long, expensive nightgown that covered her, she realized that someone had undressed her, bathed her.

"Yes, my whole family is untouched by the plague, but we don't count, Bella. There may be other human survivors out there somewhere, but none of them are in Forks. Believe me, I checked. Besides, if there are others out there, I don't think they'll survive for long," he added ominously. His eyes were suddenly dark again.

She straightened the gown around her legs looking up at him vaguely.

"What do you mean you don't count?"

"I mean, technically, we're not human, so we don't count."

"Right! Not human." She snorted at him twisting the tiny pearl buttons on the bodice of her gown. "What are you... aliens or something?" A dark thought furrowed her brow and pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Wait! Your whole family survived?" How likely was that? Something wasn't right here.

Edward nodded, but he did not speak. He watched her as she tried in vain to work through the various obstacles to comprehension.

"Not aliens... just not human," he said carefully.

"You seem pretty human to me." Although, truth to tell, she had often watched him from the back of their biology class or across the parking lot, thinking about him more in terms of his being a demigod rather than human. Even from an obscure angle, his jaw line alone was a thing of masculine beauty. No one had the right to be that good looking.

" Wait, am I dreaming? Is that what you mean?"

"You're not dreaming."

"Am I dead? Is this Hell? "

"You're not dead. This isn't Hell... at least not for you," he added cryptically his beautiful mouth turning down at the corners.

She waited.

Her patience evaporated distilling slowly into anger. An inquiring lift of her eyebrows prompted him. "What are you trying to tell me, Edward?"

"I don't know how to tell you..." he shrugged. His eyes were gold again. How did he do that, she wondered.

"You've had so much to deal with... I don't know if you can handle anything more right now."

" You're really starting to weird me out... if you can't be any clearer than this. ..I'm out of here." she told him. She took a step towards him and stopped.

He didn't move away from the door.

"Look, Edward, I have to... I need... to get back home where things seem less... uh... not normal. Please... tell me where my clothes are and get out of my damn way. You can't hold me against my will. It's called kidnapping."

His eyes went from gold to black again in an instant at her challenge. He crossed the room in a flash...so quickly that Bella gasped and fell back towards the bed. Had he not caught her around the waist, she would have gone sprawling in an undignified heap onto the mattress.

" Aren't you listening. I can do anything I want to do to you. I'm a hundred times faster and stronger than you are. You can't go home, Bella," he spoke more slowly, deliberately as his gaze fell from her startled eyes to her mouth. His cool breath swept across her face smelling of honey and... was it cedar? No, what was that delicious smell?

"It's not safe for you there." He slowly released her, lowering her body carefully to the edge of the bed, his eyes still dark as he took two steps backward and turned to gaze out the open window at the setting sun. Crimson rays fell fully over his face. He turned once more to look at her. Ruby prisms of light reflected all around him dancing in a million tiny spots of brilliance on the walls of the room. As he moved, they moved.

Bella's mouth fell open. The swirling lights made her dizzy. How beautiful!

"What's wrong with your face?" She moved toward him slowly like a silly moth to the flame.

Edward let her approach. His whole body flinched as she reached up to touch his iridescent cheek with her sore hand. She drew it back expecting to find glitter on her fingers. Nothing! Incredible! She looked up into his black as night eyes trying to figure out how he had suddenly become a human disco ball.

And then she remembered... that day... him sitting beside her in class... looking at her with such hunger... his eyes... her fear... the sense that he was a threat to her in ways she couldn't even begin to understand... her instinctive flight from danger to the back of the room and a new lab partner... her avoidance of him for so many days after that... the supernatural speed at which he...yes, he and Alice moved...

He watched the dawn of suspicion come into her eyes. Her hand came up to her throat as if she couldn't summon her voice or as if she instinctively protected the very spot where her rapid pulse held his gaze even now. She could feel his strange nature in the absolute stillness of his body and in his predator eyes.

"You know what I am," he growled.

"Just say it! She snapped at him, the words unmistakably a challenge.

"Say it... out loud!" she demanded.

"Vampire!" Edward whispered.

She stumbled back to the bed and sat suddenly as if her legs could no longer hold her erect.

Bella wanted to deny his words... wanted to laugh in his face at the ridiculous joke he was playing... wanted to do anything that would discount the remote possibility that he was telling the truth.

But in her heart of hearts, she knew it was true. If anyone had said such a thing to her even a day ago, she would have known they needed psychiatric intervention... but the whole world had gone mad since then, and this seemed to be just one more symptom of the madness. Nothing seemed impossible to her anymore. A microscopic organism had hitched a ride on the wind to bring horrific death to the entire human race... and the Cullens had survived... the whole family. Vampires? Why not? Besides, she knew in her gut that he was telling the truth?

"Are you afraid?" he asked with an arrogant tilt of his chin.

She took her time thinking it all over and then she looked up at him, with narrowed, hostile eyes.

"No," was all she said.

"Then ask me the most basic question: What do we eat?"

" You won't hurt me."

She spoke the words as if they were really a question rather than a statement, as if she were trying to convince herself. If he had wanted to hurt her, there had been a thousand opportunities for him to have done so. Here in this room...in the back yard at her home...at school. She was amazed to realize that she really did not fear him. He had touched her with gentleness. His mother and Alice had been the epitome of hospitality and comfort.

"We drink blood, Bella". He began to pace back and forth, his hand tugging at his hair from time to time as he walked. "Most of my kind drink human blood. My family and I are what we like to call vegetarian. We live on the blood of animals... but out there in the wide world... certainly as close as Seattle and, in fact, in most of the major cities of the world, are thousands of thirsty vampires who do not live on the blood of animals. They drink the blood of humans. And as they grow more and more thirsty, they will hunt down every surviving human left on this planet because that is all they know. That is all they want. That is how they live."

Bella sat silently letting his words sink like stones to the bottom of her shuddering heart. He came to stand before her once again.

"Won't they starve to death after a while?" she asked looking up.

"Vampires can't starve to death, Bella. At least as far as we know. They will just become more and more crazed for blood. So, no. You can't go home, ever again. We have to find some way to protect you... to hide you so well that none of them can find you. And there are so many of them and so few of us..." his voice tapered off as if he realized he had said too much.

"They'll come here?" she questioned.

"Eventually, maybe not for a long while. It all depends. Alice will see and let us know."

"How will she see?"

"That's her gift. She can see the future. You know...predict what will happen. That will give us an edge."

Okay, Alice can tell the future... that's not so strange is it, she mused ironically.

"But if they come here, what will happen?"

"We will fight... if we have to."

Horror widened her eyes.

"Oh God!"

At human speed so as not to startle her, he moved to the bed and knelt, taking her hands into his cold grasp. Her hands trembled inside his... or was that his hands shaking?

"Don't be scared," he whispered. "We'll hide you so well, it's unlikely any of them will ever find you. I didn't want to frighten you, but you need to know these things for your own protection. You have to stay with us."

"But you could be hurt. Your family... you … could be killed over me."

He looked up at her with sudden shock. He had underestimated her. The look of horror was not for herself. It was for him and his family. He shook his head in awe that she would think of his family before herself. This didn't fit his expectations of human behavior. Almost a century of being able to read minds, of seeing the self-absorbed and often malicious intent behind the words and actions of most people had transformed Edward's youthful idealism into hardened cynicism. It was at times like this when he desperately wanted to be able to read Bella's mind. Why, her? Why was hers the only mind inaccessible to him?

"Believe me, Bella. It takes a lot to kill a vampire," he said softly. Unbuttoning his shirt, he picked up the knife on the breakfast tray and put in in her hand. "Try to stab me with this."

She drew back in horror and dropped the knife. "No! Why would I do such a thing?"

He retrieved the knife and looked up at her again through his thick lashes. A crooked smile curled his lips as he opened her hand and put the knife in it once more. He firmly closed his free hand around her fingers and despite her horrified resistance, raised her arm forcing the knife's tip downward towards his heart with great force.

Bella shrunk away in revulsion, moaning in protest, only to drop her jaw in surprise when she looked at his chest and realized the sharp knife had failed to make even the slightest impression on his almost invulnerable skin.

"See," he grinned at her. "Hard to kill... very, very hard to kill." He took the knife, now broken at the tip, from her numb fingers and placed it carefully on the tray with the uneaten food. The one hundred year old adolescent in him was enjoying this. Showing off to impress a girl. He had never tried to impress a girl before in his long miserable existence. But then she moved his shirt aside, touching his chest to check for a wound. Suddenly, he could smell fresh blood oozing from the blisters on her palm where he had thoughtlessly pressed her hand to the knife... so close... so close.

For a moment, he let down his guard and savored the amazement in her eyes, the warmth of her hand resting over his heart. Shyly, she moved her hand back to her lap where he gently captured it once again.

Sweet Jesus! On his knees... her bleeding hand nestled inside his like a frightened little bird... the warm currents of heat rising from her skin through that soft gown...the sound of her blood sluicing through the chambers of her frightened heart... and the smell of it... the delicious scent of it... suddenly overwhelmed his will. He shuddered violently and leaned towards her throat. Her hand tugged at his and distracted him. He looked down. Just a taste, the monster inside tempted slyly. Edward turned her hand over and saw the little rivulets of blood that gathered in the creases. He heard Alice clear her throat in warning from another room, but he lifted Bella's palm to his mouth anyway.

He sipped the tiny ocean of blood at its center delicately sealing the blisters with his tongue. His eyes closed as he savored the sweetest blood he had ever...would ever...taste in his life.

"More!" the monster demanded.

But her frightened whimper stopped him, and he pulled away. Edward rose abruptly to his feet going to the open window. fighting once more the battle against omnipresent temptation. Still yearning for her blood despite his vegetarian lifestyle... despite the many hours he had spent in class measuring the breaths he took, always aware of her...never once able to read her thoughts. And the nights... standing like a lovesick fool under her open window inhaling the cruel aroma of his singer until he thought he would go mad with blood-lust. He had tried so hard to desensitize himself to the siren's call of her blood.

Yeah, and how was that working out for you... he taunted himself.

His whole body trembled as he pulled fresh air into his lungs. Desensitized? Not so much. How could you learn not to want paradise?

Sighing, he went over to the stack of clean clothes Alice had left on the bureau. He picked them up and brought the the bundle to her.

"Get dressed," he ordered. "You need to meet the rest of the family. We have plans to make." He was suddenly and inexplicably angry at himself, but he took it out on her.

He looked at her untouched tray.

"And you will eat something before you come down those stairs, Bella. You may be one of the last human beings left on earth, and I know this has all been overwhelming, but you have an obligation to take care of your health. You are the new Eve, it seems. You can't afford to spend too much time wallowing in self pity. Who knows? Maybe, we can find you an Adam before you get too old to reproduce...be fruitful...multiply... replenish the earth and all that." He knew the words were insensitive, but he said them anyway because he knew Carlisle's plans.

He also knew he could never have her and constant frustration made him cruel. He turned and left, not even trying to move at human speed. She might as well get used to living with vampires.

She stared meditatively at the door for a while after he closed it behind him. Studying her hand, she was amazed to find the blisters almost healed. Picking up the shiny, red apple on her tray, Bella took a determined bite.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Just playing with Stephanie's toys. Thank you, oh great goddess of the twilight universe.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 5

Bella heard them talking from where she stood at the top of the stairs. Candles were lit and placed around the room below her. The power was out, she guessed, finally. It was inevitable. The Cullens must have a generator though because the television screen glowed greenly.

How normal they all looked sitting around the big screen television on couches and recliners. She recognized Jasper, Emmett and Rose from school although they had moved in different circles. Everyone liked to gossip about the beautiful doctor's kids. No one messed with them. Now she knew why. Who said human beings weren't controlled by their instincts?

Dr. Cullen, she knew from the time she cut her arm falling on a piece of glass and had to have stitches. It hadn't been much more than a paper cut really, but Charlie had insisted on taking her to the emergency room. Don't go there she told herself... so here she stood...eavesdropping on vampires... thinking nothing good could come of that...wondering how the hell Carlisle could perform surgery without getting mighty, mighty hungry.

"How long do you think we have?"

"A month, maybe less before nomads start wandering through."

"If nomads come to Forks, they'll follow our old scent trails. There's no way to hide her if they come here."

"I say we just change her and be done with it. Problem solved. We don't even drink human blood. This whole plague thing doesn't affect us unless we have to protect her." The voice was feminine and bored.

"She can hear you, Rose. She's standing at the top if the stairs." Edward snarled at his sister.

Bella jumped. Busted! They knew she was listening. She sat down on the top stair.

"And no more talk of changing her. It's not gonna happen. God forbid that she turns out like you. "

"Think I care if she can hear me? She needs to know. Are we supposed to risk our lives trying to defend her? And for someone who doesn't believe vampires have souls, you sure throw God's name around a lot."

"Hush!" A deeper voice, it must have been Carlisle's, admonished the angry blond and her brother.

"It's not the stray nomad that I'm worried about," Jasper told them. Yes, they'll wander through a few at a time, but we can take them out easily. It's the Volturi and larger covens that concern me."

"You're right, Jasper," Carlisle agreed. If there are any other survivors at all, Aro will make it his business to find them. We can't know how many there are. but he will want them for two reasons: A secure blood source and breeding stock. He probably has enough control to keep the poor souls alive long enough to reproduce. He'll keep himself and the guard on short rations, so to speak, until he can grow his herd to a substantial size." Carlisle shook his head. "What a sorry future for humanity... they'll be bred like cattle for food."

"Couldn't they just learn to drink animal blood?" Esme inquired.

"I suspect they will have to if they can't find humans, but it will be almost impossible for most of them to adapt to our diet after years, centuries even, of drinking human blood. No way to know how many vampires there are...two or three thousand at least...no census on the undead, I'm afraid."

" Yeah, so Aro's gonna have a problem protecting his livestock from rustlers." Jasper turned in his chair and looked up at Bella arching an eyebrow at her. "Sorry, Ma'am, I mean no disrespect. I'm using the metaphor only for clarity," He apologized with a crooked grin. Wouldn't you be more comfortable down here with us?

Bella bit her lower lip and shook her head, but didn't move.

"Okay, then. You just sit there until you feel like coming down."

"Alice doesn't see Aro coming here for a while, though."

"Honestly, Edward, could you let me talk for myself? No, I don't see him deciding to come here anytime soon, but I do see him killing hundreds and hundreds of vampires... like a purge. I see the guard out searching for humans, but I also see the them showing up at the larger covens and slaughtering any and all vampires they find while that witch and her brother have them immobilized."

"Dear Lord, us too?" Esme's voice was hoarse with fear.

"No," Carlisle reassured her, "we don't drink blood, so he may not bother with us at all, or if he does, it will be after he has eliminated most of the competition and rounded up as many humans as he can."

"Great!" Emmett laughed. "So we have nothing more than some nomads to worry about. No problem. I could use the exercise. We just sit tight and keep our eyes and ears open. We have our own little burglar alarm system sitting right here." He reached over at vampire speed and snatched Alice from where she stood by Jasper's chair and plopped her onto his large lap like she was a little kid. He rubbed her scalp with his knuckles which didn't hurt her, of course, but it did mess up her hair which made her howl loudly. Emmett grabbed his ears and dumped her on the floor.

Jasper came to the rescue which resulted in a wrestling bout with Emmett that almost knocked one of the several candles burning throughout the room before Esme shouted at them to stop. \

"Good Lord, I wish all my children were girls!" she shouted.

They returned to their seats immediately. Jasper claimed his Alice, balancing her on one knee as he glared at Emmett across the coffee table.

A long, low growl rumbled from Edward's throat like the thunder of an approaching storm. They all turned to look at him. He never growled... well hardly ever.

"What's got your panties in a wad?" Emmett wanted to know.

" We have to consider all options, son," Carlisle murmured placatingly to Edward. "We want the human race to survive too, just not for the same reason that Aro wants it. We were all human once and I think we are morally obligated do what we can to ..."

"No! I won't let you treat her like some kind of brood mare ."

The room fell silent. The others were trying to pull the invisible conversation between Carlisle and Edward out of thin air.

"We're scaring Bella with all this talk of cattle and fighting," Esme cautioned them as she moved to the foot of the stairs. "Please come down, Bella. I'm sorry you had to hear all this."

"Yeah, come on down," Emmett grinned from behind his mother. "We won't bite ...well, I can't speak for Edward since he's already been snacking on you, I hear!"

Esme turned and slapped him hard, really hard, on the shoulder.

"Ouch! Just kidding, Bella."

When she reached the bottom step, he gallantly extended his hand to her. "Come sit on the couch with me my fair lady. I'll protect you from all these ravenous vampires."

Both Rose and Edward growled ominously as Bella reached for his hand. Suddenly, she found herself snatched and placed behind Edward. She put a hand on Edward's arm and peered around his shoulder with wide eyes thinking a fight was imminent between the two siblings.

Emmett chortled, " Your eyes look a little red, Baby Brother. You been doing bad things to little Bella here?"

"Shut up, Emmett," Alice, with hands on hips, got in her brother's face. "Honestly, You can't keep your big mouth shut. You'd tell a hanging crime. I told you, he licked her blisters... that was all... he just licked her blisters."

Emmett exploded in laughter. "Licked her blisters, did he? First time I've heard it called that. Look, I think little Eddie's blushing... is that possible, Carlisle?" He picked a protesting Alice up and moved her aside to get a better look at the possessive stance Edward had taken. He was crouched in front of the girl as if protecting a mate.

They all stared... except for Rose who didn't give a shit... as if they had never seen him act in such a way before.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Let's get back to business, shall we? Come, Bella. Sit over here! Edward, sit beside her. Let's settle down and get some kind of a plan put together."

"Got your eyes full?" Edward snarled at them as he pulled Bella across the room to the couch that faced the big screen television. It was turned on, but the screen just showed a random pattern of static. Nothing was being broadcast. For some reason, Alice wanted it left on from five to six o'clock every day, so they turned down the volume and indulged her. It never paid to contrary her. Her ways of getting even might include some very unpleasant things that you would never see coming, literally.

Once they were all seated, no one seemed eager to start. They were still watching Edward and Bella... sitting together... very close together on the couch. They knew she was his singer. They had witnessed his struggle since her arrival in Forks. Jasper had been willing to get rid of her discretely since he hated feeling such intense thirst emanating from his brother, but Alice was insistent that he not interfere. Now, he was kind of glad he didn't. First time he had ever seen Nerdwad this close to any girl. Still, he wonder if Edward would be able to resist her. She sure smelled fine.

"I'm not going to eat her!" Edward finally blurted out too loudly to his silent family. "Good God, give me some credit! I just spent an hour alone with her upstairs. I carried her from Forks, for Heaven's sake. I sat in Biology class with her for days on end. If I was going to drain her, I would have done it by now, don't you think?"

Throughout his tirade, Bella sat in the corner of the couch crowded by Edward's broad shoulders. She didn't look too worried about being eaten, but she had to lean out and around his back to speak ...which seemed to annoy her.

"Give me one second." Alice must have meant that literally because she left and then reappeared holding a bottle of water and a fold piece of white cloth in just that amount of time.

"I want to say something, if I may."

"Yes, of course, Bella, go ahead," Carlisle prompted. "This concerns you most of all. You certainly should have a part in the planning."

"That's just it. I don't want a plan that involves endangering your family." She cleared her throat nervously. "Your lives are just as valuable as mine... maybe more so since I really don't have anyone left who would even care if something happened to me, whereas all of you do. I think I should leave... go back to my house in Forks. I have my father's gun, and I know how to shoot it. So, I think..." she cleared her throat... "I think I can protect myself, you know... I'll be fine. I have a garden and well, I'm a vegetarian anyway, so I'll have food a plenty. I don't want to endanger any of you." Having made her speech, she leaned back to hide behind Edward's shoulder.

Her words were met with silence.

Suddenly, Emmett stood up and went to the cabinet in the corner. He opened a drawer and brought a handgun over to Bella.

"Does your gun look like this one?" he asked.

She nodded.

He put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Bella jumped a foot at the sound. The look of horror did not leave her face even when he peeled the slug from the side of his head, cooled it with his breath and then placed it in Bella's hand. It was still hot.

"Still think you can protect yourself, Sweetie?" Rose taunted her.

Bella digested the implications of what Emmett had shown her. She scrambled to her feet dropping the still warm metal slug. She couldn't breathe. When she headed for the door, Edward tried to stop her. She whirled around and slapped his hands away.

" I need air!"

He let her go.

"She won't go far," Alice murmured behind him.

Bella ran from the house, down the front steps and across the darkening yard. At the edge of the twilight forest, she leaned against a large cedar for a moment and then fell to her knees and vomited onto the moss covered ground. She should have never eaten that damn apple.

Edward appeared behind her in the darkness. He pulled her long brown hair back and held it at the back of her head as she heaved and heaved Finally, she was empty. He handed a white handkerchief over her shoulder. She took it gratefully and wiped her mouth. Next came a bottle of water already opened. She rinsed her mouth twice and then drank half of the water. She looked up at him, too tired to be embarrassed.

Handing him the water bottle, she began to laugh even though it hurt her stomach which was quite sore from the heaves.

"What?" Edward looked at her unsure what the joke might be.

"I thought for a minute when Alice got the water..." She couldn't go on for laughing.

"You thought vampires drank water..."

"For a minute I thought... you know... something normal... human... and then Emmett..." she couldn't catch her breath for laughing. "It made me feel... better...I don't know... relieved or safe or something to think you guys..."

Edward looked around to make sure no one else but Bella could see him and then he turned the bottle up and drained it.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Thanks to Stephanie for letting me play with her toys. No copyright infringement intended. I'm just messing around for fun.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 6

"So, Bella, who you gonna sleep with?" Emmett asked when she and Edward walk through the door after her bulimia episode under the cedar tree.

"Sleep with?" She looked at the three couples waiting by the stairs. All the candles had been extinguished except for the one that Esme held in her hand.

Carlisle stepped forward and cleared his throat. " Let me clarify. We want you to be with one of us at all times. After much discussion, we have decided that you should not be left alone even while you sleep. I know it's not very late, but to say you have been through a lot today is an understatement of cosmic proportion. I really think you should turn in early tonight try to get some rest. We'll sort everything else out tomorrow. One us is going to stay with you while you sleep."

Emmett sniggered, "You see Bella, usually, our little burglar alarm would see if any vampire came on the grounds or entered the house in time to alert us, but when she and Jasper..."

Carlisle interrupted him quickly, " What he means to say is that sometimes when Alice is sufficiently distracted, she doesn't have visions, so it's best if you are guarded twenty-four hours a day. Do you understand?"

Edward's tightly compressed lips and look of eye-rolling disgust made Bella wonder what he was thinking.

"Really, I'll be fine. I'm sure if you lock the doors, and..." Her voice trailed off. No way was she going to sleep with anyone. She had always slept alone and to intrude on any one of the three obviously mated couples standing there was just so not going to happen. And well the only one left was …. no that wouldn't be right. She knew her face must be glowing in the dark.

Edward moaned.

Emmett laughed. "We never lock our doors, Bella."

"Well, couldn't you just start?"

He stepped to the couch and tilted it up onto one leg holding it up at an angle as if it weighed mere ounces.

"Oh," she said.

"You see, the only intruders that could possibly harm us would never be stopped by a locked door. You need to pick a bodyguard We'll all take turns unless the only one of us who isn't married decides to man up."

"Oh, for the love of all that's holy!" Edward told them as he took her hand and pulled her up the stairs.

"Goodnight." Edward," Rose and Alice trilled. "Goodnight, Bella." Giggles followed.

At the door to Edward's room, Bella stopped and tried to pull her hand from his grasp. It didn't work."I'm not sleeping with you," she protested. He shrugged, opened his door and turned on the lights.

She blinked at the bright lights. "You have electricity?"

"Well, yeah." He dropped her hand and entered the room.

"But the candles?"

"Esme just likes candles. We don't actually need any lights at all. We see in the dark quite well as do most predators. Alice saw this coming, you know. Nothing we could do to stop it. Nothing anybody could do. Early on, they said even gas masks and Hazmat outfits wouldn't keep it out. A space suit would work, but only as long as the oxygen tanks lasted. We heard about the two nuclear power plants that blew up in Europe early last month and then the reporters were saying North American governments would begin shutting down any facility that could damage the environment if someone... you know... died at the switch, so to speak. That's when we got busy figuring out to be self-sufficient. When it hit Hawaii, they started the brownouts and then yesterday...all gone... the power, phones, internet, even our cell phones won't work anymore. Decent of them, don't you think to try to protect the environment even though they knew we were all doomed. Hoping for survivors, I guess."

She stuck her head in the door...to hear him better. He was about to put a CD in the player. Then, he put it back on the shelf, picked up his ipod and plugged it into the receiver. Soft and soothing tones of Clair de Lune filled the room and spilled out into the dark hallway. He looked up at her as he shuffled through another stack of CD's as if he were looking for something specific.

"The power?" she prompted as she stood just outside the doorway.

"A small river runs through the property just behind the house, so we.. Rose mostly... figured out a way to hook up a small turbine with a generator and presto! Hydroelectricity! The experts call it Run-of-the River. Perpetual energy that leaves no carbon footprint...at least as long as the river flows which could be a couple of thousand years, maybe. It's enough to take care of our needs and then some. Probably could keep a small community going. " He swept an arm towards the vast array of electronic equipment and the shelves full of CD's along the wall. "We like our creature comforts, you see."

"Oh, you have so much music."

"You might as well come on in. Something might grab you out there."

She looked behind her and then deciding it was rather dark in the hall, took one small step into the room. A big bed with a filigree metal headboard and a golden comforter graced the middle of the room. It looked fairly new.

" I'm still not sleeping with you. I've never slept with anybody before, much less a vampire." It occurred to her that she wasn't nearly as frightened of him as she probably ought to be. Maybe it was a death wish brought on by survivor's guilt.

"I've never slept with anyone either." The sound running feet and laughter made him grimace. He walked over and shut the door which sort of forced her to take another step into the room.

"Like I believe that," she snorted. He was just too drop-dead gorgeous. All the girls at school had practically choked on their own drool when he walked down the hall.

"Vampires don't sleep, Bella."

"Ever?"

He shook his head.

"Ever, ever?"

"No, not at all."

"Then why do you have a bed?"

"Alice had this bed moved in here last week. She ordered it two months ago. She had been mopping around for days about some vision she saw... wouldn't tell any of us what it was... then she went shopping on line... ordered this bed and a bunch of other things... seemed to snap her out of her depression..."

"But the others... Emmett, Rose...Alice... they have beds. I woke up in one of them this afternoon."

"Oh they have beds alright, but not for sleeping. Trust me when I tell you," he said rolling his eyes, "they do not sleep... they do not sleep all night long every night. Why do you think they manipulated me into keeping you in my room tonight? God forbid something like saving the last human being on earth should interfere with their 'not sleeping' time,"

"Oh!" She blushed. He groaned and stepped further away from her.

"Why do you groan when I blush?"

"I can smell your blood so much stronger when it comes to the surface of your skin."

She blushed even more. He groaned even louder.

"For the love of God, could you stop that?"

"I can't help it!" She blushed again.

"Shit! Let's change the subject. Do you understand now why they maneuvered you into my room? If they had to guard you, it would cut into their …."

"Love making?" she provided boldly. She couldn't shake the forbidden images that sprang into her head each time she even glanced at the big golden bed. Something dark cramped in her belly. She put her hand over her stomach thinking she might be getting her period. Not a good thing considering her new place of abode.

" If you want to call it that."

"What?"

"If you want to call the rampant, all night long, unending sex festival that goes on around here making love." His voice rose in volume as if he wanted to be heard elsewhere.

"Well, I'm not doing that with you either... all night long?"

"Nobody asked you to, and yes all night long, every night."

"You said you've never slept with anyone, does that mean you never... either?

He shook his head.

"Are you gay?"

"I don't think so."

"Then why..."

"Never met anyone I wanted that way before."

"Why not?"

Vampires usually only mate once, Bella, for life. There are exceptions, but usually they don't even want to have sex until they find their mate. Go take a shower. Alice slipped into your house this afternooon while you were sleeping and brought most of your clothes. I'm sure you'll find what you need in the bureau there or the closet. You need to get some sleep."

"You won't..."

"I can't."

Why?

"I would probably kill you."

"Why?"

"Are you five years old? Stop with the 'whying'. If I lost control like that with you... I'm too strong. I might kill you and drain you before I even knew what I was doing. So, don't worry. You sleep. I'll read and listen for things that go bump in the night. Believe me that's what I usually do. Just go take a shower."

Bella could tell he was angry, but she wasn't exactly sure why. She grabbed a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms and headed for the shower. When she came out, he was sitting on the side of the bed with a towel over his shoulder. As she blotted her hair, he slipped into the bathroom. She thought she heard him shout something at one point during his shower... curious.

He seemed a lot less impatient when he came out of the bathroom.

She had snuggled down in the bed waiting for him to turn the lights out. He picked up a book. Going over to the light switch, he gave her an inquiring look. She nodded and he turned out the lights. Sitting down in a chair at the desk, he opened the book and began to turn the pages at a phenomenal speed. He really could see in the dark, she marveled. He probably had super hearing too. She wondered if he could fly.

"Are you going to sit in the chair all night?"

" I thought you said you didn't want to sleep with me?"

"You know what I meant. Won't you get tired?"

"Vampires don't get tired, Bella. Can't you sleep?"

"Every time I close my eyes, I see stuff... Charlie's body... the blood in his eyes and the look on his face..." A stifled little sob punctuated her words. Edward could smell the tears, though she tried hide them in her wet hair. He put his book down and crossed the room. Bella felt the bed sink a little when he sat down. For a moment, he just sat there listening to her cry, but at last her despair could not be denied, and monster or not,she turned to him and flung her arms around his waist.

"Well shit!" he muttered and then slid down in the bed and wrapped the golden comforter around her shoulder, tucking it between them a bit so the coolness of his skin wouldn't chill her. "Do you want to talk?" he asked her quietly.

She nodded against his chest, but she didn't say anything." Finally, she whispered as she swiped at her tears. "You talk."

"What about?"

"Vampires."

"What do you want to know about them?"

"Do they all have special powers like Alice?"

"No, but Jasper can manipulate moods."

"Is he why I laughed so hard after I threw up?"

"Probably.

"I didn't want to laugh."

"I know."

"Do you have a special power?"

He didn't answer for such a long time.

"Edward?"

"I read minds."

"The long slow burn of her blushing cheek felt like a branding iron on his chest even through the material of the shirt."

"I can't read your mind though."

"Thank God... I mean..you can't?" she lifted her head as if to look for the truth in his eyes. It was too dark for her to tell, but his serious tone left her vastly relieved.

"That's one of the things that I... like about you."

"Really?"

"My mind is usually so full of the thoughts of others, half the time I don't know which thoughts are my own. But with you... just silence... you can't imagine how peaceful that is after almost a hundred years. Most people say one thing and think another. Their thoughts range from the sublime to the most hateful, most disgusting... but with you... nothing."

Reassured, her head went back to his shoulder.

"Tell me more about vampires."

"They're bloodthirsty."

"Do you want to drink my blood right now? That was a question not an offer," she quickly clarified.

"I mean is it difficult for you to lie here with me? I'll understand if you want to go back to the chair."

"Yes, I might as well tell you now. I almost killed you the first day I met you because your blood smelled that irresistible to me. I had to kill you or leave."

"You left."

"Be glad I did. I spent so many nights under your window inhaling your scent, trying to learn control over my thirst. I climbed through your window most nights and watched you sleep afraid to breathe for fear of taking too much of that delicious aroma into my lungs and succumbing to my singer."

"What's a singer?"

"You are... mine that is...A singer is the one human whose blood a vampire can't resist. For me that is you."

"Is it hard for you to be so close to me now?"

" Not so much as it was when I first met you, but yes, it's torture...but the pleasure is almost worth the pain. Don't ask. It's too complicated for me to explain and talking about it makes it worse." The playlist he had selected finally ended. The room was quiet. "Can you sleep now? You need to rest."

"My hair's too wet. I couldn't find a dryer."

"Turn over." She rolled to her other side, and he gently gathered her wet hair in both hands, divided it into three equal portions and began to plait it into a long braid.

"I remember doing this for my mother a few times when I was about ten years old," he murmured.

"Tomorrow, we have to go check the reservation," Bella murmured and yawned. I had some friends there. There might be survivors."

Edward knew that would be problematic for the Cullens because of the treaty, but he didn't want to argue with her just now. If they were all dead, the treaty would be null and void anyway. He would talk to Carlisle about it. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Absently, he hummed the tune from the last song on the ipod. Bella thought it was "Witchcraft" by Old Blue Eyes. She drifted to sleep before he finished with her hair. She didn't hear his soft goodnight or feel him kiss the very tip of her braid before placing on her pillow. He settled back and pretended to sleep. If he focused on her dreaming mind, it seemed to block out all the tiring chatter he usually had to endure from his family. Being close to her was like being enclosed by an invisible shield that kept all the ugly thoughts and sad worries of the world away... very strange... so peaceful... but the price of this slice of heaven was the Hellish thirst that ached in his throat a fierce hunger for what he could never have. A couple of hours later, muttering in her sleep, she turned and curled herself around his shoulder once again laying her cheek on his chest with a sigh. He wrapped his arms gently around her, and lay very, very still.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I am borrowing Stephanie's twilight stuff to play with because she is the fountainhead of all that's twilight. No copyright infringement intended. Gratitude abounding for the chance to bask in the reflection of her glorious art.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 7

At eight o'clock, Emmett pounded on the door to Edward's room bringing Bella awake so fast she almost had a coronary event. Her hair was caught under Edward's arm. When she tried to sit up, her head was jerked back onto his shoulder so hard, it bounced, and she scowled at him like a grumpy cartoon character. With lips tightly compressed, she grabbed the offending plait and jerked it out from under him. She had never been a morning person.

" Wake up, you two. The pixie says we're going into wolf country this morning," Emmett bellowed.

"Get up!" Bella hissed at a fairly calm looking Edward, mortified that Emmett could walk in at any moment and find them in bed together. She ran to grab some jeans and a shirt. Pulling on her shoes, she glared at him. "Some vampire speed here , please?" She ran for the bathroom to brush her teeth and have her human moment.

In a voice loud enough to make her cringe, he told the world, " I guess the honeymoon's over." She could hear Emmett laughing outside the door. Edward retrieved his shoes and laced them on with all due haste, with double knots.

She heard him open the door to stop Emmett's relentless knocking.

"Where's Bella?" the dark one demanded with a snicker in his voice followed by a maniacal villain's laugh. " I knew she wouldn't last the night. Where did you hide the body, Doofus?"

"She's peeing," Edward told him.

"Get you some last night, little brother?"

"I can heeeear you!" Bella shouted from the bathroom." The toilet flushed. An agitated and blushing Bella walked into the room.

"Give me all the details." Emmett had his massive arm around Edward's shoulders and was giving him a not too gentle, sideways squeeze despite Edward's attempts to shake him off. "No, really... I'm proud of you Nerdward. You finally got some action... even if it was with the last woman on earth." With that he dissolved into uncontrollable giggles and snorts. He slapped Edward on the back. God, I should do stand up."

Bella wanted to be mad at him, but, honestly Emmett could lighten the mood in the middle of an Apocalypse.

"Where is wolf country?" she asked him.

"Quileute reservation...wait, you don't know?" he blinked and then grinned. "Another day of surprises for little Bella... unless they all bought the farm, that is. We can only hope."

Nine o'clock found all of them standing like bright angelic beacons in a patch of full sunlight on the border of Quileute territory... except for Bella who definitely did not sparkle in the morning. It occurred to Edward that vampires would never have to hide in the shadows again. Essentially, they ruled the world now. Scary thought, even for him.

"We're a tad early," Alice told them as she watched the edge of the forest.

"Why didn't you tell us yesterday that the wolves survived?" Carlisle wanted to know. He was a bit irked this morning when she told him. He loved his children, but sometimes that one moved in mysterious ways. He was not too happy with Edward, either, but he refused to think about that right now.

"You know how hard it is for me to read the wolves, Carlisle. I get bits and pieces but never the whole picture." She began to hum an old lullaby one her parents used to sing to her when she was little... how she missed Charlie and her mom. She tried to distract her thoughts.

Survival was the most important thing right. Her mom and dad would want her to survive even though she felt like crying every minute of the day. She realized she was thirsty after the huge breakfast Esme had forced her to eat. She pulled a bottle of water from the backpack Alice had given her to hold. Unscrewing the cap, she offered it to Alice who took it with a strange hesitation while Bella got another bottle for herself.

When Bella turned around, everyone was staring at Alice. Edward raised his eyebrows at his sister. Slowly, the little black haired sprite raised the bottle to her lips and took a little sip.

"Thanks, Bella," she said brightly.

''Welcome," the human told her.

Edward smiled at his sister. "Didn't see that coming, did you, Tinkerbell?" and then he redirected his attention to the shadow-filled forest.

"They're here."

"How many?" Jasper wanted to know.

"Six...no wait...seven wolves, I think. Hmmm, how strange..." Edward tilted his head to the side as if listening intently.

"Must be the whole pack. Smell that stench?" Rose wrinkled her perfect nose in distaste. "God, I hate those dogs."

"Shouldn't we run?" Bella nervously wanted to know as Edward held onto her tightly. "Wolves can be dangerous."

You have no idea, he was thinking.

"They seem reluctant to come out into the open." Edward murmured. "They don't want to shift around us. They've been like this since the rest of the tribe died of the plague. Talk to them, Carlisle. They don't trust us."

Carlisle stepped forward and spoke clearly, " Sorrow brings us to your lands in these desperate times. We meant only to see if there were any survivors among your people that we might assist in any way."

He waited.

"Bella wondered vaguely if talking to animals was yet another vampire power.

Several large shadows in the forest seemed to move towards the small group waiting in the sunshine. Five enormous wolves as big as horses appeared at the tree line. They stopped at the edge of the clearing, but did not proceed further into the patch of bright light that fell on the Cullens.

Bella made a small sound of distress at the sight of them.

As one, the wolves' eyes turned to stare at her. Ferocious growls emanated from their massive throats.

Bella started to run, but Edward kept one arm back to hold her in place and raised the other arm in a defensive gesture.

"Yes, she is human," he said, "but she is with us willingly. We haven't harmed her. Her family and everyone else in Forks is dead. She's the only survivor we've found except for you."

A giant wolf with russet fur and feral eyes stalked towards them leaving the rest of the pack several yards behind. He stepped into the sunlight. His massive body began to vibrate. Bella saw him shimmer and shake just before his whole body exploded into a spray of tiny particles that dissipated quickly in the brilliant light of the sun. In his place, to Bella's amazement, stood a tall, young man.

He was deeply tanned, powerfully muscled, rampantly naked and very pissed off. My God! It was Jacob Black! Bella knew him... had, in fact, made mud pies with him when they were kids. She peered from around Edward's shoulder with wide, chocolate brown eyes. He pulled her back behind him once again which was really beginning to annoy Bella. Peeling his black T off his back, Edward threw it with some degree of force at Jacob's chest. The Alpha smirked and ripped the shirt apart with relish to form a breech-cloth which he tied around himself with insolent slowness.

"Exhibitionist!" Edward sneered under his breath. Then louder, "So, you're still alive, Black."

The sounds of four other wolves shifting filled the clearing. They grabbed the shorts they had tied to their legs with elastic cords and quickly pulled them on. Edward couldn't see the sixth or seventh wolf. They were hiding no doubt in case the Cullens decided to attack. Paranoid much, he thought.

"Give us the girl," Jacob demanded.

"She stays with us!" Edward growled.

"She's not your kind."

"She's not _your _kind."

"Yeah, well, _we_ won't eat her."

"Oh? What big teeth you have," Edward mocked the wolf.

The situation was quickly spiraling into a confrontation. Vampires were hissing, Quileutes were growling even in their human forms when amid the noisy chaos, Rosalie shouted to one and all.

"Shuuuuuut up!"

She didn't just shout the words, she deafened them all with her vampire volume.

All was suddenly quiet on the western front.

"I hear a baby crying, she whispered."

She did not wait for permission. She jumped the boundary at a speed that would have rivaled Edward's and raced toward a stand of trees about a thousand yards behind the wolves. Everyone, vampire and werewolf alike converged on the spot where she stood with her hands over her mouth and a look of utter rapture on her face. Edward was the last to arrive with Bella on his back.

A child's car seat dangled from the sixth wolf's muzzle. Its lips were lifted baring wicked fangs as, it growled ferociously at Rose. The angry wolf set the carrier on the ground between its massive front paws ready to defend the wailing infant. The baby was clearly exhausted, hungry, and very tired of wearing a wet diaper. The misery on its tear stained face was absolute. It wailed as if its heart was breaking... as if its world was ending.

And then it saw Rose...her awe struck face puckered into such an expression of adoration that only a mother could wear.

"Oh!" she breathed, and no one made a move to stop her as she put her throat within inches of the snarling werewolf's teeth to take the baby gently into her arms.

The child quit crying immediately.

It cooed at her, smiled at her with toothless gums and then chortled aloud making the beautiful sounds of a happy baby, the sounds a baby makes when it feels safe and secure in the arms of its mother.

Alice handed Rose a disposable diaper, some wet wipes and a bottle of formula . Sitting on a nearby patch of moss, Rose peeled a soggy diaper from the tiny, black-haired, brown-eyed infant's wriggling body. A boy! Rose met Emmett's eyes for a moment. She couldn't speak. She wiped the tiny bottom and then smoothed the tears from its cheeks. The two sat at the center of a circle of monsters while the baby sucked formula down like it would be its last meal. Nobody had a word to say until the bottle was almost empty, but they all jumped when the wolf hovering over Rose and the child stepped back a a bit and morphed suddenly and noisily into Seth Clearwater. A defacto truce had been declared without a word being spoken.

"Is this all that's left of the whole tribe?" Carlisle asked solemnly looking around at the young Quileutes. The time for posture was done. Not a one of them was over eighteen. Just a bunch of kids really. He had treated some of them at the hospital through the years although the older generation had never trusted him. He recognized Seth, Jacob, Embry, Paul and Quil. "No one else?"

"No one else," Jacob murmured watching the blonde vampire rock a werewolf baby in her arms while it slept peacefully. "We all shifted when the plague hit ...must have been an instinct thing, but then we were afraid to shift back until just now. Figured as human, the virus might kill us.

We found the baby last night, locked in a car with its dead parents. Had to chew through the roof to get the baby out. I knew the couple, but I forgot what they named their baby. The kid fell asleep in the car seat, so we've been taking turns carrying it... seemed to like riding around up until just now. It must have the gene like us to have survived. We probably could have shifted back sooner. Would have had to this morning anyway to take care of the kid."

Seth added, "Sam Uley shifted and ran off after he buried Emily. He went bonkers, just took off. Leah followed him. They're out there somewhere. We can hear them from time to time, so I hope she can bring him back. He's really messed up. Don't know if he's ever gonna be right after this."

"So the Quileutes are werewolves." Bella stated the obvious. They all laughed at the calm matter of fact tone in her voice. She said it like someone asking about the weather, as if the existence of werewolves was no more remarkable than the possibility of rain or … the existence of vampires.

Rose shushed them when the baby jerked a little at the sudden noise. She took the empty bottle from its slack and sated mouth, and a tiny charming line of drool followed the nipple. She wiped the milky spit away softly with her cool thumb and leaned to kiss the baby's plump little cheek.

Jacob turned to Edward. "She won't eat the kid, will she?" Edward just rolled his eyes.

Carlisle took charge. "May I make a suggestion? I'm sure the reservation is not the most... comfortable place right now especially for a baby with no mother. We would like to invite you to our house at least for some food and rest. Maybe we can renegotiate some of the terms of the treaty and I'm sure the baby will be happier with a roof over its head and formula to drink. I'm willing to bet Alice has several cases of the stuff stored above the garage."

No one answered.

"Bad times... bad times, gentlemen," he continued. "Perhaps we should put our differences aside for a while in order to care for what we have left... what say you?"

The wolves hesitated still waiting for their Alpha to decide.

"We have electricity," Carlisle tempted. "Xbox and hundreds of games. CD's of every movie ever sold... and lots of food, thanks to Alice's strange and never questioned shopping habits."

"Can't hurt to talk it over," Jacob agreed, "until we find a better place to stay. But we need to bury our dead before we do anything."

"Not advisable," Jasper told him. "Others of our kind might wander through and draw inferences."

"Let them. It's just a matter of time before they find us, anyway. We _will_ bury our dead. We'll meet at your house in a few hours."

Rose got to her feet tucking the baby into the crook of her arm. She handed Alice the backpack and the car seat. The wolves watched her warily.

"What?" she hissed at them with blatant disregard for their concerns. "He's coming with me. Grow some boobs and you can have him back," she snapped.

With that she left for Cullen territory followed by the rest of the family. The wolves shifted again and headed back to the reservation, their anguished howls giving vent to grieving hearts as they prepared themselves to bury their families and friends. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All praise and glory to the creator of the Twilight Universe...I'm just grateful to live and play in that universe.

Just a moment to thank my reviewers. You keep me working instead of procrastinating. They are the sweetest treats to enjoy after I post a chapter.

Heads up! If you don't want to see why this fanfic is rated M, stop reading now. No bitching about it later if you choose to read on and get all flustered... unless, of course, you secretly _like___to be shocked.

Chapter 8

Alice found steaks in the freezer.

"Imagine that!" Emmett muttered under his breath as he opened the shipping crate that contained the huge new grill Alice had mysteriously ordered a year ago. Almost everyone was in the house talking or making sandwiches for the wolves to tide them over until the steaks were ready for dinner. Emmett and Rose were outside. She sat on the porch rocking the baby and watching her mate as he attempted to assemble the super daddy of all grills. Rose knew she would have to help him sooner or later, but she enjoyed watching him try. It all seemed so... human. Every once in a while, their eyes would meet...and melt.

People thought Rose was cold...aloof, critical, but Emmett, the clown... the lewd joker... the double dog dare ya, sex-crazed lover of Rosalie Cullen knew better. He had spent his whole vampire existence trying to find ways to draw her away from the bitterness she felt over not having children.

He remembered the day they first met. When she found him, he was covered in blood, brutally mauled by that damn bear... literally dying, but he had opened his eyes with what strength he had left and looked into the eyes of love.

She carried him for miles to save him. Over the years, he had tried hard to save her too, but he soon realized his Rose would never fully embrace her vampire existence because her silent, unbeating heart was always and forever a mother's heart. And a baby was the one thing he could never give her.

She hid the pain well behind her beauty queen looks and acid tongue; she acted as if she didn't care about anyone or anything. But she couldn't hide from her mate.

Vampires can't cry, but how many nights had he held her as she sobbed without tears, racked by the knowledge that she would never have a child? No matter how long or hard he loved her, there would never be any babies for them. He had watched her longing gaze when a pregnant woman passed them on the street... although she didn't talk about it... not even to him.

Well, she had her baby now. And even if she loved that kid more than she loved him... that was okay too. She was happy; she was complete.

He almost laughed at how the werewolves cast worried glances at her and the baby as they walked through the yard and into the house. But they walked right by her and didn't say a word because they weren't stupid. Rose would descend on anyone who tried to harm that child like the Angel of Death. She would tear them to pieces. The wolves also knew that no vampire in the world would have put her throat that close to a werewolf's jaws for the few drops of blood in an infant's body. When she reached for that baby, despite Seth's snapping and snarling fangs, they knew she had counted her life for nothing at the mere chance of holding it. They would play hell getting it away from her now. That baby was hers from the second she saw it... just like he had been.

Emmett was just about to ask for some advice about the grill when Bella walked out of the house and stood looking at the baby over Rose's shoulder. Edward had asked her to take Rose some water, but she suspected he really just wanted her away from the werewolves. The Quileutes seemed nice enough, laughing and flirting with her but after about the third time Edward growled at something Jacob was thinking, she decided it would be safer for everyone if she left the room.

"I wonder what his name is?" she pondered as she offered the water to a mystified Rose.

"His name will be Kiowa," Rose told her issuing a royal decree. "It means wolf... my Little Wolf. He looks like Emmett, don't you think?" As she nuzzled the little boy's neck, he cooed and grabbed a handful of her long golden hair. They both laughed when Bella had to help her untangle his chubby little fingers.

"Where's Edward?" Rose asked her putting the bottle of water down beside her chair.

"He's talking to Jacob and Carlisle about going to look for food and supplies in nearby towns. They want to leave Forks untouched. Lots of extra mouths to feed now. The wolves are going to set up patrols around the area."

"The wolves can hunt for themselves. Rose snorted. They'll kill and eat a deer raw, but they call us bloodthirsty for drinking its blood. Hypocrites!

Bella didn't feel inclined to point out that she was smooching on one of those hypocrites at that very moment.

"Funny how we "vegetarians" vampires will feast amid the famine that others are having. I bet wildlife populations explode now that..." Rose changed the topic realizing she was on the precipice of a faux pas.

"What took you two so long to get back to the house this morning?" she shot Bella a sidelong, almost teasing, glance. Bella looked away, her cheeks suddenly pink.

"Um, I wanted to visit Charlie's grave, and Edward helped me find some flowers ...

"I'm sorry about your father."

Her kind words caused tears to well in Bella's eyes.

"Okay," she said blinking them back with a shaky smile, "Who are you, and what have you done with Rosalie Cullen, the bitch queen of Forks High School?"

Rose laughed. "Yeah, that's me alright. I forgot myself for a moment" She shook her head. "Would you hold the baby a few minutes while I help Emmett?"

"Sure," Bella said hesitantly, but when she took the dark haired little boy in her arms, it seemed natural and strangely comfortable to her. She sat in the rocker and hummed softly. Before long, the baby's eyes closed. Not bad for the first time holding a baby. She continued to rock and hum while Rose worked with Emmett on the grill. The two kept finding excuses to touch each other. Bella smiled and thought about Edward.

She hadn't wanted to tell Rose about where she and Edward had been this morning. She still hadn't processed what happened herself.

With every step he took on the way to visit Charlie's grave, she had felt his powerful muscles moving under her breasts. His naked back was so warm from the sun. Embarrassingly, her nipples hardened beneath her thin shirt making her stomach ache in a dark new way. The breathtaking speed with which he moved and the scent of his skin made her dizzy. Before she even realized what she was doing, she closed her eyes and lowered her cheek to the back of his neck.

His whole body jerked. He stopped abruptly and lowered her from his back so quickly she staggered and almost fell. He reached out to steady her.

"You can walk from here," he said glancing at her sideways with wary eyes and then he wouldn't look at her at all.

"I'm tired," she whined.

"Walk!" he told her, dominance chilling his tone.

And so she walked, as he led the way, sighing frequently with impatience at her slow pace.

After a while they climbed to the top of a small rise which overlooked a flower-filled meadow, guarded all around by giant evergreens. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

While Bella gathered flowers, Edward lay propped up on his elbows brooding... his eyes followed her like a hungry lion watches a lamb. Every now and then, he would lift his face to the sun, and his eyes would close in an attitude of worship. ..but only for a moment or two...then he would go back to tracking her movements through the meadow grass.

His constant surveillance made her uneasy...well duh, he was a vampire after all... and they were completely alone...but he had held her in his arms all night and not harmed her.

Who would be upset if he came back without her? Carlisle, maybe Alice. Ironic, that Edward himself would probably be the most upset... she couldn't explain all the complicated reasons why she knew this to be true, but she did.

The nature their relationship was confusing... he was more her captor than her friend. She didn't want to think about how he felt about her.

She had never seen herself as the submissive type having been raised by a liberated mother who fought male domination like it was still the sixties, but Bella knew in her bones that Edward would never let her go... no matter what Carlisle wanted.

He kept her close to him at all times, often placing his body between her and anyone else . He touched her constantly finding any excuse to put his hands on her even if it was just to brush a stray hair out of her eyes.

They had only been together a couple of days if she didn't count the days they circled each other like wary sharks at school, but already she felt more connected to him than anyone she had ever met except for her parents. Was it because of all the trauma she had experienced in the last few days? Stockholm syndrome? No, she had been attracted to him even before the world fell apart. He might have thought it was fear that prompted her to ask for a new lab partner that day, but something much darker than fear had made her run from him. _Tiger, tiger, burning bright in the forests of the night. _Blake must have known a vampire.

She doubted even Edward understood the nature of his feelings for her yet. Was it just her blood he wanted? He seemed to care last night when she totally lost it for a while, but maybe that had been pity, an act of kindness because she was overcome by grief and shock? She hoped not.

She stole a look at him. Jesus, he was a gorgeous creature basking in the bright sunlight. _What immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry?_

She hoped he felt more than pity for her. Even now as she orbited around him like some lost planet caught helplessly in the gravitational pull of the most compelling man she had ever met, she didn't know if she could ever give him up. Such was the power of the dark longing she felt every single time she even looked at him. She marveled at how God could have created such dangerously different creatures as the two of them. _Did He who made the lamb make thee?_

But she knew Carlisle and the wolves had plans for her that did not include Edward. Was she supposed to feel some kind of moral obligation to help save the species from extinction if it meant she couldn't have Edward? She had never felt the slightest attraction to the boys she had gone to school with. She knew she couldn't bear to have anyone else's hands on her.

Bella had already prepared her refusal. The Quileutes looked human...well so did the Cullens... but she would argue that any children sired by the werewolves would not be normal humans...parahumans at best. This argument would buy her time. Surely more humans would be found eventually to propagate the planet... unless vampires ate them all. Oh well, it was the best she had at the moment.

She returned to Edward's side holding a bouquet of blue flowers. She sat silently for a while listening to the wind in the trees.

"The world sounds empty."

"I like the quiet," he murmured without looking at her. "It feels like the whole world belongs to me."

He spread his arms, closed his eyes. and lay back in the tall grass. "For the first time in almost a hundred years, I can enjoy the sun. If a human walked into this meadow right now and saw me like this, I wouldn't give a damn. I'm free." he murmured softly. "No more hiding in the shadows. No more being cooped up in the house on sunny days. No more pretending to be something I'm not. No more listening to hundreds of minds and their petty thoughts." The girl beside him made no reply. He felt such peace when she was near him. He felt safe.

Edward listened to the sweet music of the wind in the grass, smelled the flowers that bloomed all around him and best of all, the sweetest girl with the sweetest smelling blood in the whole world sat beside him. He felt almost intoxicated...more powerful than he had ever felt.

Her hand lifted to his cheek. "I love your sparkles," she told him. "You feel so warm here in the sun."

"Our bodies take on the temperature of our surroundings."

"Like reptiles?"

He smirked.

"Like reptiles."

She smoothed her palm down to the arch of his throat. Bella's eyes studied his chest intently... her warm hand descended...

In a movement blurred by its speed, he grabbed her hand and flung it from his chest. "You keep touching me as if you think I'm some harmless boy," he hissed at her. His teeth were clenched and his eyes were violent.

She froze.

For the first time, he saw fear in her eyes. She trembled.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Bella" he pulled her down beside him gathering her into his arms.

He turned her face up to see if she was still afraid. Eyes searched eyes...finding forgiveness and something more...

"It's my blood, isn't it. You get angry because you want it." Her voice was soft but accusing. She didn't know much about vampire males, but she knew from her experiences with Charlie that men in general got irritable when they were hungry.

"No! It's not that... well, it is that... but it's not just that. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"You don't want my blood?"

"Yes... no... Hell..." He raised himself on one elbow and leaned over her. Her breath caught at the tortured look in his eyes.

"Just hold very still, Bella. I want to try something."

"Will it hurt?"

"Not if I do it right."

"Okay," she said

"Okay what?"

"You can bite my... neck, I guess."

His golden eyes laughed at her. "Are you telling me it's okay to drink your blood?"

"Yes."

"Why on earth would you do that?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm tired of you being angry at me all the time, and I'd like for us to be friends. I really need a friend right now, Edward, so if a little blood will make you feel better, so what..."

"Right here? Right now?"

"Yes." She arched her neck back to give him better access. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath.

"You shouldn't tempt me Bella," he said ominously. What if I can't stop?"

She said nothing...waited.

Slowly, he lowered his mouth to the pulsing artery that fluttered beneath her smooth throat and then kissed it lingeringly, tenderly.

He drew back and studied her mouth, but when he did nothing else, Bella raised her head impatiently and glared at him. He watched her anger grow. A triumphant smile curled his lips and warmed his eyes.

"What?" she spat at him.

"Bella... sweet, sweet Bella." He nuzzled her neck again. "I only wanted a kiss. That was the something else I wanted to try." He shook his head at her again obviously amused at her misapprehension.

Rage flared in her milk chocolate eyes.

"Well then," she snapped. "Just shut the Hell up and kiss me. Quit trying to scare me to death."

She saw his eyes flash to black at her angry words. Who did she think she was, this little slip of a girl yelling at him, ordering him around...tempting him in a thousand different ways every minute of the day... and night.

His lips descended to hers in a crushing kiss. Some remnant of reason kept him from killing her, but his control was uncertain. He wrapped his long fingers in her hair and pulled her to him with no small degree of violence. What he did to her mouth could in no way be called a kiss; it was a ferocious domination, a sex act in itself, his tongue thrusting in and out, over her soft clinging mouth. He captured her lips between his teeth, biting them hard… almost but not quite hard enough to break the tender skin. He nipped that wayward lower lip especially hard and pulled at it to punish her for taunting him with her angry words...as if she could even begin to understand how he had suffered because of her damn singer's blood. He hated her for being the very thing he desired most and the very thing he couldn't have. He pushed her shirt up and cupped her soft breast with greedy hands. He pinched her nipples until they peaked and reddened. He could hear her heart stutter with fear, and he was glad.

Any minute now she would fight him... He wanted her to struggle against him, and then she would see the danger in daring to challenge him.

But she didn't fight him.

Instead, she moaned and whimpered... whimpered and moaned...shuddering mindlessly under his cruel mouth. She arched her back riding the sharp edge of orgasm. Her hips twisted mindlessly against his hardness over and over again trying to find just a little more friction. Her hands clenched and clawed his naked shoulders urging him on. But when his hand jerked open her jeans and went sliding not too gently down the front of her belly, she jumped, startled by the bold move. The awkward motion caused her to bump her lower lip against his front teeth painfully, and still she didn't try to stop him.

He smelled blood. The scent bloomed around them like the darkest flower .

He released her mouth instantly, pulled away panic-stricken, knowing he had hurt her. Strange how the smell of her blood now compelled a sudden urge to protect. What had she done to him?

Rolling onto his back to get away from her, he paradoxically dragged her with him. Bella looked down at him, her hair falling all around them, her eyes dazed and wild with lust. She couldn't believe he was going to stop now... not now...it was unthinkable. She wouldn't permit it.

She felt something warm run from the small cut on her lower lip and realized in that moment that her first kiss was probably going to be her last kiss.

Not daring to breathe, Edward watched the blood trace across her lower jaw and form one luscious swollen ruby drop at the bottom of her chin. It trembled there for a few seconds and then fell precisely on his closed mouth. Bella saw it there, a crimson stain across his lips that could well mean her death. She knew she should pull away and run. Edward closed his eyes deliberately, his nose now flared as he drew one deep fragrant breath, but he opened his arms wide to let her escape.

Bella hesitated only for a moment and then slowly lowered her bleeding mouth to his.

He gasped...his eyes flew wide with alarm, but he could not disdain her offering. Dangerous as it was, he cautiously tasted the forbidden nectar on his lips and hers ... and then her chin. He groaned either from ecstasy or agony, Bella could not tell which.

When every molecule of the blood was gone, he sealed the tiny cut on her lip with a tantalizing flick of his tongue and lifted her reluctantly from his chest. He rose to his feet.

Smiling, Bella fell back amid the scattered flowers and looked up at him with narrowed eyes like the cat who had stolen the cream. Edward stared down at her and shook his head.

"You brave, stupid, wicked girl... don't ever do such a suicidal thing again or I will paddle your ass so hard you won't be able to sit down until the Rapture comes."

"I can't wait for the Rapture to come," she grinned a wicked grin.

Edward reached for her hand and lifted her to her feet brushing flower petals and grass from her hair and clothes. He helped reassemble her rather crushed bouquet, examining it ruefully.

"Well, Miss Swan," he told her as he handed it to her. "You weren't deflowered, but you came mighty close to it."

"Deflowered? How do you know I'm a virgin?"

"Are you?" he almost growled.

"Yes, I am."

"I'm glad."

With that, he slung her virgin body over his back, and they went to pay respects to Charlie.

While she placed the somewhat mangled flowers on Charlie's grave and shed a few quiet tears, Edward watched solemnly... thinking of his own mortal father wishing he could remember his parents better. Then, they made their way home each lost in meditations of dark times to come.

Edward was wondering what Carlisle would say when he told him that he was keeping Bella for himself. The human race could become extinct as far as he was concerned. He would never give her up. He would trust no one else to protect her.

As they sped through the sun-dappled forest, Bella leaned to his ear and whispered solemnly, " I don't want to be Eve." She punctuated her sentence with a kiss on his cheek. She felt him nod once.

She wondered what Carlisle and the wolves would think when she slept in Edward's bed tonight. They let Rose take the baby...that was one thing... but when Edward took her hand tonight and led her up those stairs, would there be trouble?

As they crossed the yard, he peeled her off his back and held her hand as they walked to the front door. Pulling her hand to his mouth, he gave her that crooked smile she loved so much and left a kiss in her palm...a silent covenant between them. Promises lit fires in his golden eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Here I am playing with Stephanie's vampires and werewolves again … not intending to violate copyright. Having great fun while I pay homage to the The One.

Note: Thanks again for the great reviews. Many apologies for the typos. I do proofread several times, but sometimes miss a few. Also, I had to take chapter 8 down for a few minutes after I posted it because I had forgotten to delete some rough drafting leftovers. Sorry, remember I'm new and have no Beta. I know...not an excuse!

The Blood Wars

Chapter 9

"Bella, Jacob, Edward would you come into my office. We need to talk."

She hadn't expected Carlisle to make his move so soon, although she knew this was coming. Couldn't he at least wait a few days. She just buried her father yesterday.

"Sure," she said and rose to follow him. Jacob and Edward were right behind her.

Dinner had been an awkward affair. No one in this little company of survivors seemed to know whether to celebrate or mourn. The wolves never asked why vampires would have a freezer full of thick ribeyes, and the vampires never asked why the wolves all liked their steaks so very very rare. It seemed to Bella as she ate her tossed salad and veggie burger that they had more in common than they were willing to admit.

Edward had sulked all afternoon. Jacob had stalked her like the wolf he was, trying to catch her away from Edward long enough to strike up a conversation, but Edward stayed close. Bella had seen them standing in corners talking several times. If she approached they got quiet but couldn't hide the tension in the air. She had known something was coming and here it was.

After they entered his office, Carlisle moved behind his desk and sat facing them...position of authority. Jacob sprawled on a leather couch, his muscular brown arms stretched along the back...position of confidence He looked a little smug. Bella figured he thought he had Carlisle on his team. Edward had his back pressed to the closed door as if he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to stay or leave.

"Won't you sit down, Bella?" Carlisle invited.

"I'll stand," she told him, impatience chilled her tone.

"I'll get straight to the point," he said clearing his throat. "I feel it's best to be proactive rather than reactive in this situation. Bella, you are probably _not _the only survivor of the plague, but we can't know that yet...not for sure. I feel sure that in time we will find others who were immune, but even if we do find others before they are slaughter for their blood, it will be absolutely necessary to have as large a gene pool as possible for the ...for lack of a better word... re-population of the earth. I think you'll agree that it's biologically imperative that we all do our part in making sure the human race does not completely die out...that mankind is given the very best chance of surviving."

"Why?"

Carlisle's jaw dropped a bit. "What do you mean why?" The good doctor was not accustomed to being interrupted.

"I mean, you're not human, so why is it a biological imperative for you to preserve the human race?"

Edward looked amused. Jacob looked confused. Carlisle looked dumbfounded.

"I have spent my whole existence trying to serve mankind. It has given purpose to my existence. It's only natural that I would want to do everything I can to save the species from extinction."

"Existence? Why do you call your life an existence... the term is pejorative, demeaning, dismissive? Is that where Edward got the term... from you? Why do you believe your existence isn't a life? I think you're so used to some medieval notion that vampires are the soulless undead that you have developed some kind of self hate... but you do have a soul, Carlisle. It shows in your refusal to drink human blood and in how hard you work to heal others. It shows in your attempt to help me and the human race in general... "

"I'm gratified that you think this way, Bella, but the reality is that most of my kind are merciless killers who would enjoy drinking every drop of blood in your body. We are monsters Bella, albeit some of us have chosen to travel another path, it doesn't change the fact that despite my family's efforts to control our basic instincts, we are still predators at heart."

"I'm sure you could say the same thing about my kind. We kill; we maim... we're just better at it than you vampires are. You only kill one person at a time, whereas we use automatic weapons, bombs...deadly viruses... to kill millions and millions. And we don't even have the excuse of hunger."

"Bella!" he interrupted her monologue.

"What?"

Edward was laughing under his breath and shaking his head.

"Could I please finish what I was saying?"

She waited.

"Over the past few months, I know Edward has struggled with his... uh... attraction for your blood, and I am very proud that my son's strength of will has so far kept him from doing any harm to you. It's been very difficult for him, I know."

He cleared his throat again dragging his fingers through his pale, swept back hair in a gesture of frustration...so that's where Edwards gets it, Bella thought vaguely. The good doctor continued.

"As a result of Edward's struggle, it seems, he has formed some sort of attachment to you. Bella, this cannot continue; it's just too dangerous. I don't mean to frighten you any more than necessary. I know the last few days have been stressful for us all and you in particular, but I would hate to see you form any type of permanent attachment to Edward as a result of his unexpected proximity and the stress and trauma of the past few days, when we all know it would never work out for either of you in the long run."

"Attachment?"

"Physical attachment."

"Why not?"

"Well, his vampire strength for one thing and blood lust... he might well kill you in the ...uh... consummation of any relationship. No human has ever survived such a liaison. Besides, any sort of union...even if you survived, my dear, would not be fertile. There would be no children."

"Ah there's the rub, as the Bard would say."

"What do you mean?"

"So that's what you three have been plotting all afternoon while I was outside with Rose...Maybe, I don't want any children?"

"Is that a choice that you can make with a clear conscience in the present circumstances? Bella could see he had spent several lifetimes perfecting his skills in the gentle art of guilt tripping.

"There may be other survivors who..."

"We've heard of only one possible sighting in Europe somewhere, and that was doubtful. No one could get close enough without dying of the virus themselves. You know how quickly it kills. If there were others, they have probably already been found by others of my kind or are, even as we speak, being tracked down. You have no idea how bloodthirsty vampires can be."

She looked at Edward, and then at Jacob. Her eyes turned to Carlisle, and she held his eyes for a moment.

"I don't want to be your Eve, Carlisle. I refuse. And even if I agreed to be, just who would you pick for my Adam?"

Carlisle hesitated a moment casting eyes at Edward, at Jake, at Bella once again.

He took a deep uneasy breath.

"I think he has me in mind, Bells." Jake finally spoke. "I'm the oldest of the pack except for Sam and he's gone in more ways than one. We know each other fairly well, and frankly, I've always had my eye on you since we were little kids. I think Charlie and my dad could tell. I believe they had it in mind for us to get together from the time we were born. They used to tease me about crushing on you... a lot, but I could tell they always hoped the two of us would get together eventually... would unite the two families. I kind of hoped you liked me too."

"I do, Jake. You know I love you. But it's the love for a friend or a brother," she told him earnestly.

"I could change that if you gave me half a chance."

She looked at her sneakers but said nothing.

"It's him, isn't it?" he jerked his chin angrily in Edward's direction.

Guilty silence.

Carlisle rose from his chair. "You know that can never be, Bella."

"It already is!" Edward told him, defiance in his voice.

"It's too dangerous, and you know it," his father reasoned.

"Then change me." Bella demanded.

"No!" Both Jacob and Edward shouted simultaneously.

"I can't in all clear conscience allow that to happen, Bella," Carlisle shook his head slowly. " You have a moral obligation... a duty."

"So, you want me to sleep with Jacob against my will? Is that what this boils down to? Do I have to remind you our children wouldn't be human, Carlisle. Shouldn't we hold out for an Adam who doesn't wag his tail or howl at the moon." She was angry to the point of being cruel.

"You might not find quite all of my attributes so repulsive, Bella," Jacob snickered lewdly.

Low, continuous growls started to rumble from deep within Edward's throat. He stalked four steps across the room towards Jacob. Bella knew what that sound meant. She whirled around and threw herself against Edward's chest...she had to stop him.

Jacob jumped up from the couch to meet him, his whole body quivering...equally furious.

"No, Edward!" She put her hands on either side of his face hoping to calm him, but he grabbed her arms to move her out of his way, keeping his eyes on Jake.

"She whimpered from the pain of his hard grip, and Edward froze. He immediately redirected his attention to her arms releasing her. His anger forestalled, he glared at Jacob with the promise of retribution in his eyes.

"You better tell that mongrel to watch where his mind goes," he snarled at his father.

"My mind goes where it pleases, you parasite! You watch where your hands go. You can't even touch her without hurting her."

"I've touched her plenty," Edward taunted as he put an arm around Bella's waist and pulled her to his side.

Carlisle came from behind his desk at vampire speed. He positioned himself between the two angry men... intent on keeping the peace. He cast an accusing eye at Bella.

"See why this needs to be settled as soon as possible? The last thing we need right now is to be fighting each other."

"Quit trying to manipulate her, Carlisle. She has the right to choose. If she doesn't want him, I won't let you coerce her. For God's sake, she's not even eighteen. Give her some time. The world just ended yesterday. She just buried her father... have you no compassion?"

"You need to give her up now, Edward... before more trouble develops...before she becomes any more attached to you... or you to her. Don't bother to deny it...I have ears, eyes. I saw the two of you when you got back from Forks this afternoon. You already guard her every move as if she were your mate. You have feelings for her, but it's a biological dead end, Edward...in more ways than one. You want to give her a choice? She needs to realize that choice is a luxury the human race can no longer afford right now. "

"Do you plan to force me to have sex with Jacob? That's what you'll have to do, you know. Jacob's a family friend. I care for him. I've known him most of my life, but I've never felt anything more than friendship for him. And I don't think the Jake I know is all that into rape."

"She's right, Carlisle." Everyone turned to look at Jacob surprised at his seeming capitulation. "I think we should back off and let her think it over. Let's give her some time. Meantime, the pack and I are going to increase the range of our patrols. Who knows what we'll find. I'm not going to force myself on a woman who doesn't want me. I don't care if she is the last woman on earth."

"There are other ways." Carlisle told him.

"Not for me." the wolf replied.

Jacob stalked around Edward and Bella as he headed to the door. He stopped a moment and leaned over into Edward's personal space.

"Don't think I'm giving up, Tick!" he hissed at the vampire, his white teeth snapping. "I still plan to convince her that I'm the better monster." He opened the door and left. The door slammed behind him.

Carlisle sighed as Edward and Bella turned to leave as well.

"Bella," he stopped her at the door, and she turned back to him to see what he wanted. He was smiling at her and he looked so heavy-hearted and apologetic that she almost forgave him for his meddling. She guessed that angelic smile had worked its magic on many women but not Bella... not today.

"Were you, by any chance, on the debate team in Arizona?"

"Middle school and two years in high school." she told him solemnly.

"President." she added just for spite and joined Edward at the door.

Suddenly, the door was torn open so violently, one of its hinges was ripped out of the wooden frame. It was Jasper looking wild-eyed.

"It's Alice," he said to Edward. "She's had a vision. Did you see?"

"No, I've been... Survivors!" He raced down the stairs to find his sister. Bella followed with Carlisle. She found them in the living room. Edward knelt in front of his sister who looked as if she had awakened from a nightmare. Jacob and the wolves that weren't out running patrols stood watching in amazement.

Alice looked up; torment filled her eyes.

"Helicopters, Carlisle. He's using helicopters. He lands them in all the major cities and survivors come running to him thinking they're being rescued."

"How many?" her father asked.

"I can't tell... they just started really... maybe twenty...thirty at the most."

"Is he still in Europe?"

"Yes, but you know Aro has a jet."

"He'll come here as soon as the virus gets to the east coast."

"He's decided to send Felix and Jane."

"Where will he take them? Can you tell?"

"Not yet. Voltura would be the most convenient stronghold for him and the guard to defend their … herd... that's what he calls them... his herd."

"What can we do?" Jacob and Emmett spoke almost simultaneously."

"Against the Voluri, not much," Rose told them.

" Who is Arrow and what's a Volturi?" Seth wanted to know.

Carlisle took a few minutes to explain how dangerous the ruling family of the vampire could be.

"So we're going to do what?" Jacob insisted.

"We could go to Seattle, maybe Portland... see if we can find any other survivors and get them here to safety before Aro works his way across the country, couldn't we?" Jasper suggested.

"We have to try." Carlisle agreed.

"Turn up the volume!" Alice squealed. Everyone turned to see a young woman's face behind a news anchor's desk on the heretofore empty televison screen. The woman's mouth was moving, but until they hit the mute button, they could understand what she was saying,

"...out there? Is there anybody out there? If there is, please help me. Everyone's... gone... everyone." She looked as if she had been crying for hours. Her blonde hair was tangled and mascara streaked her cheeks. " I started the emergency generator here and the lights came on, so I'm hoping somebody can hear me. I'm all alone here... in Seattle... everyone's dead. I don't know where to go or what to do. The smell... oh God! Dead bodies everywhere...I found one this morning after the virus had killed everyone else. Throat ripped out. What could have done that I don't know, but I'm scared. I don't know what to do... please...I don't know why I'm still here. We were told everyone would die... I... I...almost wished I had... it would be better than this... I don't know why I'm doing this really. It's probably a waste of time, but I had to try. I'm just so … alone..."

As suddenly as it began, the signal wriggled greenly on the screen and died. Alice pointed the remote and clicked it off.

"You don't have much time. By tomorrow the Seattle coven will have found her. They've already found the other three who were immune."

"We can be there in an hour. Edward, you and Rose stay here to guard Bella, and the baby," Carlisle took charge. The rest of them headed to the garage. Within seconds, two vehicles filled with vampires and werewolves roared away from the house.

At ten o'clock, after four hours of tense and watchful waiting, the cars returned. When Edward opened the door, he saw Jacob carrying an unconscious girl into the house. The Cullens and all but two of the wolves followed. Edward watched the two who stayed outside do their shift thing and run into the woods to relieve the wolves who had been out on patrol all day. He shut the door.

Jacob place the young girl on the sofa while everyone stood around in a circle looking at her.

"What happened?" Bella wanted to know,

"We got to her just in time... vampires were searching the block when we arrived. We didn't think about the traffic jams from people who died trying to get out of the city ahead of the plague. We had to get out and run before we even got to the city limits." Jacob was telling the tale in a low voice so he wouldn't wake the girl up. He brushed her dirty hair away from her dirt smudged face. Even in her filthy clothes and tangled hair, she was beautiful. She smelled of smoke.

" Fires burning everywhere. The stench of the bodies and the smoke in the air is probably what saved her long enough for us to find her." Emmett continued. "She was still in the station when we got there. She was happy enough to come with us until we encountered a couple of vampires who were on her scent trail. They wanted her so they attacked us. The wolves did their werewolf thing... bit their heads smack off... so cool... sure, glad they're on our side... anyway the girl flipped out...fainted dead over and hasn't come around since."

"She's exhausted...probably in shock." Carlisle bent listening to check her pulse. He was probably the only doctor who could take a pulse without touching his patient.

"Take her to one of the guest rooms," Esme told him. I'll get her cleaned up and comfortable. "Jacob, you and your friends will be more comfortable in our two guest rooms than sleeping out in the forest. Please feel welcome to anything we have. Plenty of flood left in the refrigerator if you're hungry. I've put towels and needful things out for you."

Carlisle bent to pick the girl up but was nudged aside by Jacob, a very unusual move since werewolves generally avoided touching vampires unless it was for the purpose of killing them.

"I'll take her." he told the doctor, and then he carried the girl up the stairs behind Esme.

He paused at the landing and shot a commanding look down to his pack. They nodded and went out the door to guard the house. They would not sleep tonight. Vampires might have tracked them from Seattle.

The Cullens said their good-nights and climbed the stairs. Rose carried her sleeping Little Wolf on her shoulder, Emmett's arm wrapped around her waist. Jasper and Alice disappeared in a blur of vampire speed as if eager to be alone.

Edward took Bella's hand, pausing to turn out the lights as they climbed at a gentle pace to his room.

She felt as if they had been performing this ritual for eons and eons... not just here and now, but in every incarnation of the universe since the beginning of time. It was as if they had always been bound together... as if they were one soul, divided and united and divided and united from the beginning of time until the very end of forever. In caves, stone huts, cabins and mansions and graves... they had put out the light and gone to their rest curling up together against the night...kindred souls finding each other over and over again only to be separated by time or distance or death... and then relentlessly finding each other again.

At the top of the stairs, Edward smiled at her and opened the door. He picked her up in his arms as if she weighed no more than a thistle and carried her across the threshold. He shut the door quietly behind them.

I


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Once again I honor the creator of the Cullen Universe by imagining one based in part on her exquisite dream. No copyright infringement intended. All things Twilight belong to the one and only. I'm just playing.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Since this is my first fanfiction, reviews are precious to me since they keep me writing for your pleasure and mine. Please forgive the typos... must be the work of gremlins...I proofread and proofread, but still find errors appearing mysteriously after I post. I ain't got no Beta.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 10

The minute he touched her, he knew he was in trouble.

"She's gonna run," Alice warned as they stepped inside the room.

"You get her, Jake." Emmett whispered. "We tend to make em skittish."

Moonlight from the window provided a rectangle of pale light in the middle of the otherwise dark room, but she was curled up in the darkest corner, her arms covering her head, as she tried to hide... yes, tried to hide from creatures that could see a deer bedded down in a thicket of laurel on the darkest night of the year, a thousand yards away...in the rain.

What had her so scared? Jake wondered. She should be happy to see help finally arrive.

But he could smell her fear even if he didn't understand it. Maybe it was the instinctive fear of the vampires in the room.

"Hi there," Jake told her in a soft voice calculated to charm." He moved towards her slowly trying to anticipate which way she would bolt.

"We heard you on the television a while ago, and we're here to help you."

Her body tensed, so he stopped moving and waited.

"There she goes," Jasper chuckled feeling the sudden change in her mood.

She rolled to her feet and scrambled to the left, but Jacob was bigger and quicker. He reached out his long arm and snagged her around the waist lifting her feet from the floor to minimize damages.

That's when he knew he was in trouble. Something like a powerful shock flashed from the arm that held her to his brain and from there down his spine. out both arms, up the backs of his legs and then slammed into his suddenly rock hard groin...a pulse of energy so intense, it felt almost like a seizure at first and then changed to a white, hot sizzling pleasure so intense, it knocked his feet out from under him.

Jake fell... fell hard to his knees... holding her up so she wouldn't get hurt. Then he collapsed backwards onto his butt, too stunned even to kneel. He... simply... had...to sit...down... immediately... on the floor. Tightening his arms around her waist, he pressed her back against his heaving chest as he shuddered then surrendered to the cataclysm that swept through him like a long, slow, total body orgasm... like the kind you're supposed to have only when you're dying.

"Fuuuuuuuk!" he groaned.

He thought he was going to phase, but he didn't. Instead, every single nerve ending exploded in what felt like a quantum transformation, as if the very molecules of his brain were somehow being reconfigured. He felt drunk.

"Something's wrong with Jasper!" Alice shouted as she flew to his side. He also lay in a heap on the floor looking for all the world as if he had fainted. She helped him to his feet. He was dazed and confused but he let her help him to a chair. Carlisle ran to him, mystified...vampires didn't faint.

Still on the floor, Jake was breathing like he had run a marathon.

_What The Fuck was That_?

The girl must have felt something too because she had quit struggling. He took her by the shoulders and quickly turned her around on his lap to see if she was okay. Had they been struck by lightning?

She wouldn't raise her head to look at him, so he fisted his right hand in the thick hair at the nape of her neck and put his left hand around her throat. Using his thumb, he pushed her chin up firmly as he simultaneously pulled her head back with her tangled hair.

Her eyes were tightly closed, but she was breathing.

"Look. At. Me!" he ordered hoarsely.

They were blue...as blue as the sky in the high mountains on a clear summer day...as blue as...

Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. His heart stopped beating... literally. It clenched in his chest and then it began to pound so rapidly his whole body shook.

In a matter of seconds, the earth shifted on its axis...the stars realigned themselves...

"Hey, Jake. You okay? She get your nuts with her knee, man?" Emmett looked concerned. The others had gathered around him to see why he was sitting on the floor... except for Alice and Carlisle who were still fretting over Jasper's strange collapse.

A couple of the wolves were snickering. They could sense what had happened but he shot an Alpha command at them, and they kept their mouths shut.

Jake couldn't answer Emmett for a full sixty seconds. Still trying to catch his breath, he struggled to his feet without releasing what he suddenly knew was his only reason for living.

He had heard talk of it from the elders and from Sam, but he thought it was just a lot of hooey...probably what most people called love at first sight. Now he knew it was so much more. He had imprinted on this scrawny, soot-covered, scared, smelly slip of a girl, and he didn't even know her name.

She was without a doubt, the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was suddenly and magically everything to him. He had to get her to safety.

"I'm okay." he told everybody with an embarrassed laugh. "Let's get the hell out of here."

He pulled the girl to her feet. The moonlight washed all color from her expressionless face...She looked like a bedraggled corpse, zero affect...saying nothing and doing the thousand yard stare thing. The imprinting must have been the proverbial straw for her, but at least she was compliant, willing to come with them. She held Jake's hand tightly and kept close to his side, but he felt like he was like walking with a zombie.

He slipped his arm around her waist and led her out of the building surrounded by his pack mates and a family of vampires they had called enemies just a couple of days ago. She was all that mattered now and getting her out of the city without being attached or followed was going to be a bitch.

Outside, the stench of garbage, human decomp, and smoke was as still as thick in the air as it had been when they first arrived. Jake noticed the vampires had decided not to breathe. Lucky bastards! They left the building through the same side door they had used to enter. It hadn't even been locked.

Jake figured when people in the bigger cities and towns fully realized that there was no stopping the virus, they just went home to die... not even bothering to lock the doors of the buildings where they worked... that was the decent folk. The others...the criminal element... the eat-drink-and-be-merry assholes looted, raped, set fires and partied like it was the last days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jacob saw some of the chaos on the news before the media shut down. Even the police gave up on keeping order. went home to be with their families and stayed there waiting for the end.

Couldn't blame them really for trying to keep their families safe from things far worse than death by plague. Made him glad to come from a small town like Forks. Charlie had handled the situation well...led by example...his quiet dignity and sense of duty kept most of the folks there fairly calm and stable considering they were living in the last days of global annihilation. Jake figured people generally died as they had lived.

He wondered how the fragile thing at his side had managed to escape the looters and the vampires?

On their way into the city, they hadn't encountered any trouble, but as they were coming out of the building their luck ran out. Jake saw... he hadn't smelled them for obvious reasons... two nomads, a male and a female, stalking towards them, their red eyes intent on the girl at his side. Jake pushed her towards Carlisle and launched himself at their attackers, phasing on the fly, his body exploding into a huge fanged and snarling wolf. His powerful jaws decapitated the male in less time that it takes to say, "I vant to drink your blaaahd." The other wolves had also shifted and two of them were taking down the female. They left the Cullen vampires with nothing to do which seemed to piss Emmett off a bit.

After watching him shift back to his puny six foot plus, 265 pound, muscular self, the almost catatonic girl, who had not said one word since they found her, dropped to the pavement like a puppet with its strings cut. Emmett caught her before she hit, but handed her over to Alice just in case he needed free hands. Jake grabbed for the spare pants tied to his leg and swore softly getting dressed while Carlisle and Esme gathered the pieces of the nomads, and threw them into a dumpster full of trash. They left them burning, and headed for the cars, males in front and behind and flanking the females at the center of their fast moving company.

"Bet they didn't see that coming!" Emmett chortled as he slid behind the wheel. Jake climbed in the back and gestured for Alice to pass the girl to him. As Jake pulled her into his lap, she woke up but still didn't speak. He tucked her into his shoulder to keep her warm and after a few minutes she fell into an exhausted sleep.

When they pulled up in the driveway at the Cullen house, Edward was waiting at the door. Jake carried the still sleeping girl to the couch. He was impatient with the questions and the recounting of their adventure. He wanted Carlisle to check her over. He had a feeling something was very wrong with her mind. She had seemed lucid enough on the television, but when they finally got there, she was terrified and now she wouldn't talk. At Esme's instruction, he carried her up the stairs, Carlisle moved at vampire speed to get his doctor's bag. Jake couldn't believe how right she felt in his arms as he laid her gently on the bed.

Carefully, he wiped the soot and grime from the girl's face with the washcloth Esme handed him. Up close he could tell her hair was red not blonde, a shade or two beyond strawberry blonde. He had turned his back while she removed the girl's jeans and shirt and replaced them with a soft cotton gown, but he had insisted on washing her face and hands himself. She continued to sleep as deeply and bonelessly as a child, but despite her petite frame, Jake figured her age to be ... fifteen or sixteen,. Carlisle checked her over and found no major injuries other than a few scratches and bruises on her knees.

"Go get some rest, Jacob." Esme told him as she tucked the girl in just like any mortal mother. " Carlisle and I will stay in case she wakes up scared. She's going to be alright."

"I'll stay with her."

Carlisle shook his head. "I don't know...I let Edward guard Bella one night and that didn't work out so well. I think Esme and I should stay."

She's going to panic when she wakes up no matter who's here, and I'm not asking for permission."

The doctor hesitated. He was beginning to doubt his own judgment lately. He had been amazed when Edward had volunteered to guard Bella last night. He figured she would pick Alice or Esme to stay with her. He had been beyond shocked when Edward dragged her off to his room and she went willingly.

Of course, it never entered his mind that anything of a romantic nature could happen between the two. She was his singer which meant he wanted her blood. But he had shown such remarkable restraint over the months...trying so hard to desensitize himself. He knew about the late night trips to her house, but he never even considered it would come to …. this. Carlisle had worried a little about him hurting her, but he never dreamed his son had deeper feelings for the girl.

He remembered his cousins in the Denali coven. The females learned to resist draining the men they …consorted with. But a male vampire and a human female.. in a romantic relationship... not possible. Just. Not. Possible. And yet, he had heard Emmett's rude comments this morning...maybe vampire offspring were just as good at keeping their parents out of the loop as human children? And where were Edward and Bella right now? In his room probably... together. He may have to consider a whole new paradigm of vampire/ human relationships...if Edward didn't kill her, that is.

"Carlisle?" Esme prompted him, interrupting his reverie.

"At least he's a familiar face," he told them in a resigned voice. "Call us if you need us."

Pulling a extra blanket off the foot of the bed, Jake made a pallet for himself on the floor. It stank of vampire, but he figured he might as well get used to it. When had he last slept? He honestly couldn't remember.

It seemed like forever since he walked into his father's bedroom and found him covered in blood. Just two days ago...was that all? Billy had tried to get out of the bed, Jacob could tell, because the wheelchair was turned over. Why he phased the moment he saw his father's body, Jacob couldn't figure out. Was it an instinctive desire to survive...fear...grief...anger maybe? He just shifted without thinking about it. He remembered laying his head beside Billy's still body and whimpering at first, then sitting back on his hindquarters and howling his grief long and low in an eery mournful call that made all of his neck fur stand on end.

Soon he could hear the other members of the pack..their excruciating pain filled his mind adding to his own grief. God help him...he didn't even stop to tie a pair of pants to his leg... who cared... everybody was dead... he just ran. He wanted to run forever. Get away from the evil thing that was destroying the world, get away from his father's death. He ran and ran until his legs burned and his eyes blurred.

Even running he could hear his pack mates pleading with him to stay... telling him Sam was gone and Leah. He hadn't wanted to go back, but their pain tugged at his heart. Finally, he slowed and turned taking his time as he returned to the othres. They knew immediately that he had finally taken his place as Alpha. It showed in his posture and stance... in his take charge attitude ... they needed him now. Just a bunch of orphan kids who were still adjusting to this whole werewolf thing... running scared themselves with no family left except for the pack.

And then they had found the baby.

He thought only the pack had survived the virus...the ones with the gene. If the baby had the gene, he wasn't old enough for it to activate... not even close. Jake was no geneticist, but it certainly seemed strange that the baby survived and not its father. Maybe, the boy was destined to be a future member of the pack. Or maybe Little Wolfe... had to love the name Blondie gave the kid... was just immune like Bella? He would ask Carlisle about it tomorrow.

Right now, he needed to sleep, dammit! He tossed from side to side trying to find a comfortable spot. Forty-eight hours without a wink and he couldn't get his mind to shut down even now. Racing thoughts. The girl on the bed...red hair, blue eyes, too frightened even to speak... such a pretty little thing... nicely rounded but slender... probably wouldn't come up to his shoulder..

"Mine!" he heard a voice in his head growl.

She moved restlessly in her sleep and muttered something before settling back down. Dreaming... what nightmares she must be having. A city full of dead people. He would never forget the smell. Then vampire attack...creatures moving at her with super speed... their red eyes glowing... the man beside her... that would be him... turning into a giant wolf right in front of her eyes. Who wouldn't have nightmares? Maybe that was why he couldn't sleep, maybe the big bad wolf himself was afraid of bad dreams.

He wondered where Bella was. He thought about going to check on her, but his worries didn't seem as important to him as staying with his Little Red Riding Hood right now. He wondered what her name was.

Bella was probably with that leech. Don't go there. Why would she choose a bloodsucker over him? He was hotter than Edward... in every way that counts. Would be like crawling in bed with a corpse. Don't go there. If that tick ended up hurting her, he would so make him pay... Like those two in Seattle tonight. Maybe her name was Sarah. He had always like that name... or maybe Mary. He found it hard to worry about Bella when his mind kept turning back to the girl with the red hair.

He remembered looking at Emmett's face after they set the nomads on fire. He was grinning at Jake... thinking he was some kind of bad ass...well, it would be hard even for Emmett himself to take him down when he had his wolf on..and Emmett was one big dude. Oh well, do em good to have a healthy respect for the pack. Push came to shove, the wolves could take them all ...probably... except maybe Esme...she had been good to them. Made him miss his mom. Maybe Carlisle too. He was a good man... vampire... Shit! That was the problem. You start hanging with them, you begin to think of them as real people. But if Edward harmed one hair on Bella's head...

And what about that blonde? Reaching her hand practically inside Seth's mouth to get Little Wolfe. Taking that baby like it was her own flesh and blood...maybe not the best way to put it, but maybe they did have feelings...who knew?

But Bella and a bloodsucker... Charlie was probably spinning in his grave. Another good man. He had always treated Billy right. Taking him fishing... not treating him like a cripple. He missed his father so much. His grief was a raw, open wound that wouldn't heal. He could tell some of the tribe had always felt sorry for him having to take care of his dad, but he never felt as if Billy was a burden. They had a lot of good times... lot of good times. His father made being handicapped a challenge rather than something to whine about.

Jake's grief was deep and abiding, but no more so than everyone else's. He couldn't give in to his own pain when he needed to focus on keeping the pack safe and the baby and Bella and this little bit of a girl who would have most surely been killed if they had been even ten minutes later in getting to her.

It made him tremble with rage to think about survivors like her being tracked down, one by one and killed for their blood or treated like cattle being bred for food by that Aro guy. It wasn't in his nature to hide out like this in the woods and wait for the enemy to come to him. The best defense was a good offense...isn't that what they should do. Find a jet and fly over to Italy... do some serious damage to the vampire king. Jake could walk in there looking all human and shit... once he was put in with the other survivors, he could phase...let his wolf go berserk on the guards. Kill all the Volturi and bring those poor humans home. Sounds like a plan.

Having a plan soothed him even if it was a crazy plan, and he was just drifting off when he was brought upright by screams loud enough to wake the dead. Startled, Jakes instincts took over and he phased. His clothes exploded into scraps around him. In an instant, the whole room was full of vampires and sleepy eyed pack members. That made her screams even louder. Everyone was trying to calm her, reassure her, but it just made her terror worse. She cowered against the head boards alternately screaming and whimpering. She couldn't take her frightened eyes off the huge wolf standing beside the bed. Jake knew he should shift back to his human form, but there were so many people and distractions around him, he couldn't focus. Jake growled when he saw that Edward's jeans were unfastened and Bella was wearing a man's shirt. Tomorrow, he was going to seriously kick Edward's ass.

"Shut up!" Rose screamed from the door with her now famous vampire volume. Emmett had the baby's ears covered with his hands. Everyone stepped back and shut their mouths except for the girl huddled against the headboards. "You idiots woke the baby!" She took the infant from her mate, crossed the room to the bed putting her unsmiling face close to the still screaming girl's face.

"Hush up!" she told her firmly.

The girl closed her mouth and cowered trembling against the wall. Rose turned to the now silent assembly. "Get out!" she told them in a voice that sounded like the command of an accomplished dominatrix. They all left.

"Not you, Dog," she said to Jake. "I'm not spending the night in here."

She sat on the side of the bed and producing a bottle of formula from seemingly nowhere, she began to feed Little Wolfe. Rose hummed a lullaby softly as she fed the little boy. When it was empty, she handed the dead soldier to the girl who hesitated and then reached a hand out to take it. She placed the baby in the middle of the bed and stood up.

" Stay!" She told Jake and headed out of the room.

Left alone on the bed, without Rose, Little Wolfe started to fret a little. Jake put his head on the bed to make sure the baby didn't roll over or fall off. Immediately, the girl took the baby up in her arms and held it as far from Jake as she could. He realized she thought he was going to hurt the child. Rose came back in the room with a disposable diaper in her hands. She took the baby from the girl. When he was burped and dry, the blonde vampire stood to leave.

At the door, she turned and smirked at Jake, "Be a good dog." With that she was gone.

Jake phased with his back turned. He grabbed the blanket on the floor to cover himself before he turned to the wide-eyed girl.

"Might as well get used to it." he told her with a grin.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked her gently.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Looking confused, she tried again... nothing... just the sound of air hissing from her throat. Fear widened her eyes. She shook her head.

"So you can't talk? But we heard you on television earlier tonight. That's how we knew where to find you. You were talking alright then. What happened?" He probably should have pointed out that she was screaming loud enough to wake the dead just a few minutes ago

She shook her head again and put her hand to her throat. Again, she tried to speak and couldn't.

Jake reached over and pulled the drawer of the night stand open. As luck would have it, he found a pen and an old envelope. He handed it to the silent girl.

"Just write your name... and don't worry about it. We have a doctor here. He'll fix you up in the morning. You were screaming pretty loud a minute ago... funny that you can't talk now... maybe you sprung something in your throat, huh?"

She scribbled on the envelope and handed it back to him.

"Rachel Maguire," he read aloud. "That's a nice name .. sounds Irish. Are you Irish? I'm Jacob Black...I'm Native American, Folks just call me Jake …. or sometimes Dog.." he grinned at her.

She took the paper back and wrote, _You changed into a wolf...you killed some... people. Are you going to kill me? _Tears welled in her pale blue eyes as she handed him the shaking envelope. She snatched her hand back as if she half expected him to bite her.

"No! No, I would never hurt you. We came there to save you from the … looters... that were going around killing survivors... I know you saw me do that wolf thing, and I can explain it all later, but why don't you try to get some sleep and we'll get it all straight tomorrow. I'll sleep right here on the floor beside your bed in case you get scared. Maybe by morning, you'll be able to talk. What do you say?"

She shook her head. She took the paper and wrote again. _You'll change into a wolf._

"Let's try this," he said. Let me prove to you that you are safe even with the wolf. You'll see how harmless he can be. It's still me inside him."

She shook her head again vehemently, crawling back to the corner. Jake could see there was no help for it. She wasn't going to sleep until she could see he wouldn't hurt her. He guessed he could go get Esme, but he refused to even consider leaving her.

Stepping back from the bed, he phased with little fanfare, and fell forward catching himself on his front paws. She didn't scream... he kind of hoped she would since he was worried about her sudden inability to speak, but she sure tried to peel the wall paper off the wall behind the bed.

Her gown had ridden up in her frantic attempt to get away from. He reached over and put his cold nose on her slender thigh and waited. He whined and huffed an impatient sigh as he watched her. At first she closed her eyes refusing to look at him, but gradually when he made no further movement, she opened her eyes one at a time and looked down at the massive head nudging her leg as if prompting her to pet him.

Slowly, she reached one hand over and tried to push his head away. Jake whined and and refused to move. He nudged her hand. Her slender fingers rested for a moment in the soft fur. She stroked him tentatively at first. Gradually, she scooted down...back under the covers so she could reach him better. The longer she stroked his head, the calmer she grew, until finally, exhaustion claimed her... she closed her eyes, and she slept. Jake didn't bother to shift. He didn't have any more clothes with him anyway. He eased his head off the bed and lay down once more. Before long, he drifted off thinking about how blue Rachel's eyes were. Some wolves had blue eyes, he had seen pictures of them... and with that he fell asleep. Sometime in the night he heard her leave the bed dragging her covers with her. She lay down beside him, and he felt her snuggle up to his warm back. She slept again, and so did he...dreamlessly.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Still playing with Stephanie's vampires and werewolves. No copyright infringement intended. Just having a little fun basking in the bright light of her greatness.

Author's notes: Many thanks for the helpful reviews. They motivate me to keep writing when I get frustrated with my prose. Still working on my proofreading skills... be patient, please.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 11

"You drank my blood today,"

"Will you be able to sleep with your hair wet. Do you want me to plait it for you ?"

"Are you listening to me?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"How did it taste?"

"Are you warm enough. Do you need an extra blanket?"

"Edward, how did it taste."

"You're playing with fire, Bella."

"Did you like it?"

"It was the best thing I've ever tasted in my entire existence...but..."

"You know I don't like that word.. Why can't you call it a life? What do you mean, _but?_"

"But it's hard to say which tasted better, your blood or your kiss." He smile softly.

"They sort of came together."

"Whose fault was that? Switch sides with me. I want you farthest from the door. "

She drew a deep breath and sighed dramatically.

"Turn over so I can plait your hair."

"Now, I'll never know whether you drank my blood to kiss me or you kissed me to drink my blood," she complained as she turned over.

"You're crazy as hell, you know that?

"Maybe we should try an experiment to see which you want worst."

"Should I run back to Forks and get your psych meds?" He finished her braid and pulled out a single hair he had left to the side.

"Ouch! What are you doing?"

He used the hair as a tie, winding it round and round at the very end and then tossing the heavy braid over her shoulder so she could see his handiwork.

"Hmmmm...good idea, but you can't distract me that easily. I say we try an experiment to see which you want worst"

"Want what worst... and shouldn't that be worse not worst.?"

"My blood or my kisses!"

Why do you have to keep talking about this?" Don't you know how much harder you're making it for me?"

"Seriously, Edward," smiling shyly, she turned to face him, "you are one dense vampire. Can't you tell when a girl is trying to get you to kiss her?"

He rose above her.

"Why didn't you just ask? Laughing softly he lowered his head and smoothed his lips over hers softly, lingering to savor the sweetness of the moment.

Nipping her chin gently, he whispered, "Your kisses are wickedly delicious," He set his mouth more firmly to hers and deepened the kiss until Bella moaned and arched against him. When she started unbuttoning his shirt, he moved his mouth to her warm throat and grabbed her hands securing them above her head.

"Bella!" he gasped against her neck. "Stop."

"I don't want to stop," she murmured urgently against his Adam's apple.

"I don't want to hurt you, and at some uncertain point, I won't be able to stop."

"Then don't."

"It's too dangerous."

Biting her lower lip, she pulled away angrily scooted to the other side of the bed, and gave him her back.

Using her braided hair, he pulled her head back. His hungry black eyes roamed over her face. His mouth was a thin, grim line.

"Don't turn away from me." fierce temper showed in his words and his tone, alarming Bella for a moment and then the gentle Edward was back. "You're going to have to let me move at my own pace," he murmured softly.

"No, Edward, I'm not." Turning to face him, she narrowed her eyes and frowned impatiently. He needed to know he wasn't the only one with a temper.

"In another world, you could move at your own pace. Our courtship would be slow and careful. But in this world, life is too uncertain. We could be killed at any moment by powerful enemies who would stop at nothing to destroy us.

So no!

We don't have the luxury of waiting around until you feel sure you can make love to me safely. I have spent months being afraid of you, and yet I dreamed of you every single night.. I know that sounds strange, but trust me it's true. I wasted time that I could have spent being with you if I hadn't been such a coward. I wanted you even though you terrified me. Now, I refuse to let fear keep me from living... By all rights, I should be dead right now along with almost everyone else in the world. It's not enough to just be alive anymore, Edward... I want to live."

She took a deep breath.

"I don't want to die a virgin, Edward...and I'll never want anyone more than I want you."

"Bella, I've never... I'm … Believe me, I want to...but I've never even wanted to until now...now it's all I can think about. You don't know how long I've waited for you...how I feel terrifies me, and if I hurt you... if I lose control...hold you too tightly...thrust too hard." He sat up on the edge of the bed with his back to her. He held his head in his hands for a few seconds, a picture of despair, and then ran his long fingers roughly through his auburn hair. She rose on her knees and leaned against him throwing her arms around his neck.

"You won't hurt me... just try," she whispered against his neck. "What was it Andrew Marvel wrote to his coy mistress? 'Had we but world enough and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime.'"

"'But at my back I always hear, Time's winged chariot drawing near.'" Edward added smiling wryly, looking over his shoulder at her... but she added the last line.

"'Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run.' Let's make the most of the time we have Edward."

"We've only been together for two days."

"I've been in love with you since the day I first saw you. So often , I dreamed you came to my room at night and stood staring down at me. Even in my dreams, I knew you were something beyond human. Some times, I dreamed you lay in my bed and held while I slept."

"I did."

"Did what?"

"I came to your room... climbed in your window... sat in that rocking chair in the corner...eased into your bed and held you while you slept... not just once or twice... almost every night after I got back from Denali. I told you last night, weren't you listening."

"My God! You said you came into my room... you didn't say you slept with me."

" I thought I could get myself so used to the smell of your blood that I wouldn't want it anymore, you know like working in a pastry shop makes you hate the smell of cake? It's called desensitizing."

Her eyes were large with shock. It was at times like this when he almost wished he could read her thoughts. He watched her facial expression move slowly from shock to embarrassment to anger and then to something that looked a lot like resignation... as if she thought it over and decided that it just didn't matter.

"How could you do that without waking me up?"

"Vampires can be very quiet, Bella. We don't really have to breath, you know. If it looked as if you were about to wake up, I just moved away at vampire speed to the closet or down by the side of the bed...into the shadows... you never even suspected. You talk in your sleep, you know."

"What did I say?" Her face felt as if it should be glowing in the dark.

He groaned.

"Sorry!"

"You never said much... it was often garbled...but you did say my name a few times."

Groan

"Sorry! I told you I was crushing on you from that first day."

He turned to her and pulled her into his lap his hands biting into her upper arms cruelly. "Impossible, I half scared you to death that first day. I wanted to kill you on the spot. I sat there for the whole hour plotting ways to get you away from school so I could have you. I even considered killing everyone in class so I could take my time and make a feast of it. I also considered just snatching you after school and leaving Forks with you so I could drink your blood every two or three days in small quantities at my leisure for the rest of your life. How can you possibly say you were in love with me? I am a monster, Bella. And you knew it too. You asked the teacher to give you another lab partner just to get a way from me... don't deny it."

"I don't deny it, but that was another Bella who lived in another world. There will come a time when I'll want you to change me...no...don't say a word until I'm finished here. Edward, I don't want you for a day or a year or a lifetime...I want to be with you until your "existence" as you call it is over... beyond even that... beyond death if that's allowed, but I want you now while I'm human too. I want it all, Edward."

"No, Bella." He shook his head slowly in denial.

"You say no, but when the time comes, you'll realize it's the right thing. I'll give you some time on that issue, but you won't be able to let me go either. You'll see the logic of turning me while I'm still young rather than waiting until I'm an old woman...You'll realize that I wouldn't want that and you'll come to see that I'm less likely to be killed if I'm like you. You'll do it to keep me safe, if for nothing else."

"I want you to enjoy being human...I never had the chance...I was so young..."

She laughed.

"What?"

"You want me to have human experiences? We gonna go to the prom? Gonna graduate? Go to college? Maybe, I should have a career, publish a book or teach..go to medical school, huh?"

His brows furrowed in aggravation at her logic, but the corner of his mouth was twitching.

He kissed her hard and shoved her over to her own side of the bed, lay back and pulled the covers over them both.

"I'm not going to talk about this any more tonight, my little debate team captain. Let's not forget, this is your soul we're talking about. Give me some time to think about it."

"I'll give you some time to think about changing me, but I don't want to wait for the one human experience that you can give me now."

"No, Bella. You have no idea how dangerous that could be. Now get some sleep. It's late. You have to be tired."

Crawling to the bottom of the bed, which she kind of hoped showed him more than a little of her scantily covered ass, she climbed off the bed. Enjoying the look of surprise on his face, she stood with her hands on her hips and spoke firmly.

"I want another guard."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to stay with someone else at night, not you."

"Oh for the love of all that's holy, Bella, come back to bed."

"No!" She headed for the door.

He was beside her before the blanket that he flung away had settled back onto the bed. He wrapped his arms around her body and leaned her back with his lips at her ear.

"Don't you know better than to tell a vampire no, little girl?"

She couldn't hardly breath in his tight grip, but she knew if she gave in now, he would always try to dominate her.

"No," she gasped.

Down came his mouth as if to force the word back into her throat before she could defy him. He kissed her to subjugate her, to force her to realize that she should fear him, obey him,. Had she no sense of self preservation that she would provoke him like this?

To his amazement, she melted in his arms sighing her victory under his marauding mouth. She felt the motion of his smile before he pulled his head back to show it.

"What?" she demanded still in a daze of lust.

His eyes smiled at her as he carried her to the bed and tossed her onto the mattress.

"You're good... I have to admit it. For someone who doesn't want to be Eve, you sure know how to tempt a man."

"But I can't tempt you," she sobbed, pulling out her weapon of last resort.

"Ah shit, Bella are you crying?"

He went to her and gathered her into his arms, "Please, don't cry..."

"I guess you don't want me that way. Maybe it's different for vampires."

"Shhhhh...no, you're wrong, I do want you. I want you so badly, I can't think straight when you're near. I almost killed Jacob Black today several times just because of what he was thinking about you." He kissed her swollen lips, her wet cheeks, tasting tears, and slowly, she won him from his resolve.

With each soft kiss, and murmured reassurance, with greedy caresses and eager hands, they became more and more lost in a maze of desire from which there would soon be no return. His hands swept under her shirt, his long fingers curling around her breast, his thumbs teasing her nipples until they peaked in hunger. Her nimble fingers worked the buttons loose on his shirt, He tore her sleeping shorts from seam to seam. She reached for the snap on his jeans as he ripped the entire crotch of her panties away. Her eager fingers made short work of the zipper.

He rolled between her welcoming thighs. It seemed so natural, so right, so necessary.

"Heaven..." he groaned as he position himself to enter her.

And then the screams started. Loud, deafening, blood-curdling screams. They froze at the sound.

Edward was the first to pull away, swearing viciously under his breath. He pressed his forehead to Bella's for a moment trying to find some small degree of control.

Bella was breathless, confused... stunned. Her hands clung to his shoulders unwilling to let him leave her.

She ached.

He ached.

"No," she moaned.

"It's the girl Jacob found," he told her. He stood pulling his pants up and headed for the door.

"Wait for me." She couldn't find her shirt so she grabbed his, trying to get her arms in the sleeves, but unable to find them. She kicked off her torn panties. They landed somewhere by the door.

Edward waited for her patiently. He grinned at the little dance she performed trying to get her torn underwear off and chasing the sleeves of his shirt at the same time. Seeing she was never going to find the damn armholes, he went to her. He smiled down at the frustrated expression on her face as he buttoned the last button and took her hand.

"Let's go see what that damn dog has done, shall we?"

As they opened the door, she muttered crossly, " Somebody better be dead or dying!"


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Still playing with Stephanie's twilight toys. No copyright infringement intended.

Thanks for the reviews. I find them very motivating. I don't want to take months to write this, so the reviews keep me moving.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 12

"Stay the hell out of my damn head!"

"Your call, Jake."

"I get enough of this with the pack."

"Yeah, but they can't read _her_ mind...I know she can't talk. Don't you want to know why?"

"Leave it alone."

"Alright, I'm just saying."

"And I'm just saying, I don't need your help. She'll start talking when she settles down."

"Fine with me, dog. If that's what you want..."

Edward turned to leave. He tried to put his arm around Bella's waist, but she pushed it away. She wasn't speaking to him at the moment because when they went back to bed after the big screaming incident, he had stubbornly sat at his desk for the rest of the night reading a book. In fact, she was not too happy with either Jake or Edward right at the moment.

Jake was standing out in the hall waiting for Rachel when Edward and Bella showed up on the way down to breakfast. Alice had knocked on the door earlier with clothes to help Rachel dress for the day. She didn't look too surprised when Jake came to the door wearing a blanket, but she threw a pair of shorts at him and ordered him out while she worked her magic. He hadn't argued, but he waited until she went in and shut the door before he pulled on his pants. She caught the blanket in the door and it was still there... half in … half out of the room. He was still a bit stupefied from waking up to find the girl under the blanket with him... snuggled up to his back

Sometime during the night he had phased back to human form. He had never done that in his sleep before. The very thought of it made his legs weak with fear. He thought about Sam's Emily for a horrified moment. God knows how he managed to phase without hurting Rachel, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it with Alice pounding on the door persistently. Rachel opened her wide blue startled eyes and sat up, but said nothing...obviously. He was starkers so there was an awkward moment...or two... while he managed to cover himself and lurch to the door half tripping on the trailing edge of the blanket both he and Rachel had evidently been sharing. He guessed that meant they were married now ...in some Indian traditions...sharing a blanket meant just that. Yesterday that would have been something to joke about.. it would have seemed funny to him. Today...well today, it didn't seem so funny.

Now here he stood trying to decide if he should let the resident telepath read her mind. Of course, he knew Edward already had, so wasn't it a moot point?

"Speak!" Edward impatiently interrupted Jake's meditations.

"Tell me one thing... is she still afraid of me?"

Edward shot Bella a significant look. She rolled her eyes at him and went on down the stairs. It was obviously time for a little man to man, so she left them to it.

"No."

"Is that all?"

"I answered your question... what else do you want to know?"

Edward smirked at Jacob's thoughts.

"Alright, I won't make you ask, but that doesn't excuse you from violating her privacy anymore than it does me. Just before you got to her last night, she watched some vampires through the window as they ripped each other apart down in the street below the building where she was hiding. Despite all she's been through, that's the moment when she stopped talking. She was thinking about that last night when we came to see about the screams. They must have been members of the Seattle coven and a couple of Nomads fighting over territory. I figure they ran into each other trying to follow her scent through the neighborhood. She could tell they weren't human just by the speed, and well, you know how we move... how we kill. Then when she saw you come in the door, she wanted to scream, but couldn't. She thought we were there to kill her."

"She screamed last night... you heard her... so why can't she talk today?"

"It's called psychosomatic laryngeal paralysis."

"What?"

"She was still half asleep when that happened. I'd bet if she's sufficiently frightened, she can still scream. We could..."

"I'd better not see anyone test that theory, you feel me?"

"No, I agree that would just worsen whatever psychological block she is experiencing. Anyway, when you and the wolves phased and killed those vampires, it didn't exactly help help her state of mind."

"So it's caused by fear, right?"

"Not just fear, Jake. Extreme trauma, and I get the feeling that girl in there has had a lifetime of trauma. But yes, it's psychological. She isn't injured in the physical sense. It's an extreme form of PTSD. She may never talk again, or she might start talking in the next few minutes. She's just reached her limit, and this is her way of dealing with it. There are case studies about this sort of thing... hysterical blindness, psychosomatic paralysis."

"You sound like a doctor."

"I have several medical degrees, actually. But, I suggest you talk to Carlisle about it more later. He's had much more clinical experience. I just have the advantage of reading the patient's mind."

"Why her voice?"

"That I don't know because she doesn't know, or maybe she knows but doesn't understand. I can only tell you what she is thinking at a particular time, but I will keep my ears open, so to speak."

"What should I do? I mean, what's the best way to ..."

"Don't try to push her... and don't try not to push her... do you understand? Don't coddle her, but don't try to force her to talk... basically, just wait. She's young and healthy. Odds are she'll snap out of it when she's ready."

Jake inspected the grain in the hardwood flooring as he pondered how he had moved so quickly from wanting to tear Edward apart with his bare hands, to feeling obligated to him in less than twenty-four hours...

Heading down the stairs, his former enemy looked back for a moment. "Oh by the way, are congratulations or condolences appropriate for the imprinting thing?"

Jake snarled at the vampire's smirk. "You keep that to yourself. I'm going to take enough crap from the pack as it is."

Edward made no promises as he went to find Bella.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Uh, thanks."

Edward continued down the stairs, throwing a handful of words over his shoulder as he left.

"Ouch, I bet that hurt...Dog."

Esme had cooked breakfast for all those inclined, but everyone was gathered around the table. Rose was feeding the baby a bottle while Emmett made plans for a huge garden, now that the pack seemed to be moving in. Point of fact, they hadn't agreed to moving in... it had been assumed they would move in and nobody disputed the assumption. The Cullens were more than a little reved about the whole thing. They had existed in a kind of social isolation for so many years... hiding themselves and their true nature from others. It felt liberating to be able to talk freely without worrying every minute they would make a slip and betray their true natures. Besides, Emmett had missed farming, but it had always seemed kind of silly to plant a huge garden for a family of vampires. He knew the baby would soon need more than just meat or formula, and now with Bella and the new girl and the wolves, there would be plenty of hungry mouths to enjoy what he grew. He even had plans to confiscate a small tractor. Seth was talking to Carlisle about bringing venison home to smoke or freeze instead of leaving the meat in the forest when they hunted. The wolves in from patrol had nothing to report. If there were survivors or bloodthirsty vampires out there, they were not within a ten mile radius of the Cullen lands.

"They're here," Edward warned everyone quietly, just as Alice and Jake appeared at the door with the girl. She was dressed in a leaf green silk shirt and black slacks. The deep green contrasted the long curly red hair that shimmered down her back. Who would have thought that dirty, bedraggled girl Jake had carried in last night would turn out to be such a beauty. Alice had outdone herself.

Carlisle stood and all the other males followed his example, but their courtesy only made the girl shrink and duck behind Jacob. He was the devil she knew, evidently. Slowly, she peeped around his shoulder, her wide eyes roaming from face to face around the table. She could sense their strangeness. Over the course of her life, her survival had always depended on her ability to sense when people weren't "right."

Edward spoke first, "Everyone, this is Rachel McGuire. She's having a little problem with her voice this morning, so hold the questions until she has time to get used to us."

Carlisle added, "Won't you come and sit with us, Rachel and I'll introduce everyone? My wife Esme here on my left, is a little rusty with her cooking skills, but I haven't heard any complaints so far this morning." He completed his introductions and then invited, "Come ...eat some breakfast." He gestured to some quickly vacated chairs at the end of the very large table.

Everyone waited expectantly.

Understanding the girl's reluctance, Bella got up and went to her. She took the hand Jacob wasn't holding and pressed it warmly between her own.

"It's okay," Bella said. "They found me too...just day before yesterday. They won't hurt you. I promise."

She led Rachel forward and sat her down in the chair next to hers. Jake sat on her other side so that she was sandwiched between him and Bella. With a subtle look from Edward, everyone started talking again as Jacob served the girl's plate and then his own. She watch everyone with big eyes, but only picked at her food until, Jake noticed.

"You need to eat Rachel."

She looked down at her plate, her head bowed as if she expected punishment for not eating. Picking up her fork with a trembling hand, she lifted some eggs to her mouth.

"She's a little nauseated right now, Jake." Edward intervened. "But for some reason she's afraid to disobey you."

Alarmed, Jake put his hand on her fork and pushed it down onto her plate again.

"You don't have to eat, I just figured it's been a while since you had food." His angry glance met Edward's troubled eyes across the table.

"Jake, could I speak to you privately for a moment." Edward rose from the table, but as Jake stood up to comply, Rachel grabbed for his hand and held it with both of hers, her eyes told him she was afraid to be left with these strangers.

"Bella will stay with you for a minute, right Bells?"

"Sure," Bella put her hand on Rachel's shoulder gently. "Jake will be right back, don't worry," she told the girl softly.

In the hall outside the dining room, the two stood awkwardly for a moment or two while Edward decided what to say.

"Someone has beaten that girl, Jake. She's been mistreated for a long time. When you ordered her to eat, she remembered what I think were foster parents threatening her... one image of a man beating her with a belt for not cleaning her plate." He kept his voice low, but anger made his voice rough.

Jake didn't say anything. A single muscle in his cheek flexed several times as he clenched his teeth in anger.

"Maybe, that's connected to the voice thing."

" She was beaten harder if she cried, or begged or screamed and sometimes gagged if she couldn't stop screaming."

"So not speaking is something she learned in order to survive."

"Yes, I wish you could get her to let Carlisle check her over. He might be able to shed some light."

"I'll work on it, believe me." He felt a kind of rage that could be satisfied by nothing less than killing the bastard who hurt her. Too bad the plague had probably already killed him, otherwise...

Rachel looked up questioningly at Jacob when he and Edward rejoined the group, but he just shook his head as if to say it wasn't anything to worry about. Bella was talking to her about how she and Jake used to play together as kids telling Rachel an embarrassing story about the time she convinced Jake that it was okay to eat the mud pies they made if they baked them first in Charlie's oven. They had both been punished for that.

As Edward took his chair, he noticed that Bella had been so busy talking, she hadn't eaten her breakfast either. He picked up a biscuit from her plate and slathered it with strawberry jam.

"Eat," he ordered holding the food close to her mouth.

"I'm full," Bella told him, her lips compressed in irritation. She was still mad at him.

"Eat!" he commanded again sternly.

Rachel gasped with shock when Bella smacked the hand holding the biscuit away.

"No!"

"Please," the vampire begged her. "I'll tell you a bedtime story tonight if you're a good girl."

The devil was in his smile.

"It better be a really good story," she told him crossly.

Bella took one big bite and finding it was pretty good, she finished it off in a few bites. She held his hand when she had finished the biscuit to lick an errant drop of red strawberry jam from his thumb despite the thunder and lightning that flashed from his eyes.

Rachel stared incredulously at Bella, amazed that she would dare disobey the stern looking man beside her. Distracted, she picked up her fork and ate a few bites. Her stomach had settled now that she was pretty sure nobody was going to rip her apart... not in the next few minutes at least.

Her instincts told her that the creatures around the table looking for all the world like human beings were, in fact, not entirely human at all. Jake wasn't. She knew that for sure. The ones who looked like Native Americans were some kind of shape shifters who could turn into giant wolves. The others looked human, but they moved like the creatures she saw in the street last night... as if they had super powers. They all seemed human enough, but just a moment ago, the sun fell on the beautiful blonde as she walked by the window, and brilliant lights reflected from the surface of her skin making her look like an angel without wings... no, not an angel...something else... something terrifying.

Her speculations made her shiver. She wished she could talk. Her hand went to her throat in frustration. Edward noticed, but he didn't say anything. She wasn't ready to know about his gift just yet.

Rachel insisted on helping Esme and Bella do the dishes after everyone left the table. Jake went outside to meet with the pack. Emmett and Jasper went tractor hunting. It was spring and time for planting. Alice took care of the baby while Rose went hunting... Carlisle went with her.

At ten o'clock, the sound of an approaching vehicle brought Edward and the women to the porch, except for Alice who didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about who was coming down the road.

"Get back in the house," Jake ordered as he and his pack phased almost simultaneously and headed down the drive to meet the intruder. It turned out to be Emmett and Jasper. They had found their tractor, a brand new John Deer and they were hauling it in on a flat-bed truck. They pulled into the yard with the wolves running along beside the truck. Once they had pulled up to the door with the purloined tractor, the wolves ran into the forest to phase. All the men immediately converged on the tractor to inspect it, as well as the packets of seeds and the bags of fertilizer but only Emmett was brave enough to crank it up.

He was in his element. It the rural area where he had lived, farming was a necessity of life. As the rest watched, he picked out a level spot near the river and began to break ground, plowing up a garden plot big enough to grow enough food for ten families. When the soil was ready, everyone came out to help with the planting... everyone except for Rose who refused to get her hands dirty just to feed humans. Alice pointed out that her new son was human, but that didn't even come close to changing her mind.

Carlisle and the wolves raked the area smooth and cleared it of stones. Alice directed the aesthetic lay out of the rows and helped Esme dig them. Jake spread fertilizer. Rachel and Bella helped a little, but mostly watched Emmett and Edward zip up and down the rows in a game of speed planting. Jasper pulled a hoe down each row to cover the seeds. By dusk, the planting was done: corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, carrots, and various greens.

"A fine vegetable garden for vegetarian vampires," he quipped surveying their handiwork.

Alice smacked him on the back of the head. "Just you wait until you see how many deer this garden attracts. We'll be able to hunt without leaving the yard."

"Not me, Baby," he drawled. "There's no thrill in that. I like to stalk my prey, take them down as nature intended and.." He crouched low as he moved towards Alice with outstretched arms and a licentious look in his eyes. Giggling, Alice took off around the garden.

"And?" she challenged him grinning.

"And devour them," he growled and went after her. They eventually disappeared into the forest to the laughter of everyone watching except for Rachel. She shook with fear, worrying that Jasper might hurt her new friend. Little whimpers escaped her throat as she clung to Jacob's arm and hid her head against his shoulder.

All laughter died. Jacob pulled her into his arms. "Shhh! He won't hurt her. She's his mate. They're just playing. He looked at Emmett who took off after Alice and Jasper. Within a couple of seconds, they were back.

"See, I'm fine." Alice chirped as she looked at Edward for help. He just shook his head. The whimpers wouldn't stop and the girl refused to look up.

Jacob look around helplessly at the people who seemed more and more like family every hour they were together. No one seemed to know what to do.

"Rachel," he said her name with a voice that seemed deliberately stern. "Rachel, look at Alice." He peeled her out of his arms and held her by her shoulders facing Alice and Jasper. She closed her eyes and shook her head, those pitiful whimpers coming from a mouth held tightly closed.

"Open your mouth, Rachel... scream if you want to... it's okay."

"Jake," Edward warned, "she's having a flashback. Maybe you shouldn't..."

"Open your eyes, Rachel."

She shook her head.

"Scream, Rachel." he commanded her. "It's okay... no one cares if you scream. No one will punish you if you scream... scream dammit!"

Everyone jumped when agonized, blood-curdling screams burst from her like the cries of someone demented by fear...long, deafening, heart-wrenching screams tore from her throat over and over and over. Finally, she was spent as if the terror had all spewed forth and left her empty. She was still sobbing and trying to catch her breath too weak to fight when Jacob handed her to Edward, who hugged her gently and passed her to Carlisle who did likewise. She was passed and embraced by everyone there before being returned to Jacob.

"See, you are among friends," Jake told her. "No one is going to hurt you here." He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his dirty thumbs. She looked around at the others hesitantly until finally a glimmer of a smile showed through her tears.

Jacob led her back into the house. It was time for dinner. The men headed for the river and a quick swim. The women wanted showers and so followed Jake and Rachel. They all felt a milestone had been passed. Rachel still wasn't talking, but at least she didn't look at them as if they were going to eat her at any moment.

As Edward emerged from the river, he heard the sound of distant thunder. He stopped by the garden to step into his dirt encrusted jeans. Good, the rain would be make their seeds sprout quickly.

Vampire farmers...go figure.

He guessed every new beginning needed its Eden. A shadow cloud fell over the freshly plowed earth , harbinger of the coming storm. It made him think of the only thing missing from this picture which was, of course, a serpent. He frowned and went to find Bella.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I mean no copyright infringement by using Stephanie Meyer's creations. Like millions of others I enjoyed the books so much, I hated to see them end and so created an alternate universe in which they could live on and on and on and on...

The Blood Wars

Chapter 13

"Where is everybody?"

Bella opened the screen door and stuck her head out to find Edward sitting in Rose's rocking chair. She had finished the dishes while Carlisle and Esme talked with Rachel and Jake upstairs.

"Around, I guess. Alice is upstairs staying clear of the wolves as much as she can so she can see if Aro decides to send someone here. Jasper is with her plotting a strategy for defense, if the worst happens. Rose and Emmett are giving the baby a bath and getting him ready for bed..."

"You can hear them all?"

"Yes," he sighed a weary sigh. "Don't worry, I'll hear the thoughts of any stranger's mind if they get within a mile or so. And Alice will see them coming... she always does. Jake worries me though."

"Why?"

"He keeps fretting about the human survivors captured by the Volturi. He really wants to stage a rescue."

"Is that possible?"

"I don't know... Carlisle is in favor of it, but casualties are a very real possibility. It will mean war between two of the most powerful covens in existence."

"A war over blood."

Are you still mad at me?" He changed the subject abruptly.

"No, but then I haven't heard your bedtime story yet." She stood half in and half out of the door.

"About that... we really need to talk, Bella."

"What you doing out here? Hiding from kitchen duty?" She was becoming quite accomplished in the fine art of angst distraction.

" Waiting for you. Listening to the rain."

"A poor man's rain."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure. My Gran used to tell me that a rain at night was a poor man's rain. Maybe because poor people often worked outdoors or on the farm during the daylight hours, and a night rain wouldn't hinder them." She shrugged as she stared off into distant memories.

" You sound a little lonesome. Come sit in my lap. You can drive me crazy for a while."

"I'd like that," she grinned.

The screen door slammed as Bella danced across the porch and curled up in his lap. She tucked her head into that fragrant place under his neck where she could feel the vibrations of his voice in his chest when he talked.

"This is a big rocking chair."

"Emmett bought it for Rose a while back. Actually, he bought two, but they broke one...don't ask how."

Bella giggled.

"On the front porch?"

"Well, the rest of us had gone to visit friends in Alaska, so... yeah on the front porch." Bending his head, he wrapped a kiss up in a smile and laid it gently on her cheek. Mischief made him bite her ear lobe when Bella giggled again at the image of Rose and Emmett breaking the other chair.

"You smell so...very...very good."

"So do you," she whispered shyly.

For a long time he gently rocked the two of them back and forth, back and forth as they listened to the gentle rain. Night was coming. Spirit light filtered through leftover clouds as the storm marched steadily onward to the west. They could hear the songs of night birds at the edge of the forest and the distant howls of the pack as they coordinated their positions on patrol.

Bella felt safe, and more at peace here in his arms than she had ever felt before in her whole life... despite the horrors that threatened all around them... despite the painful loss of her family. Here in this moment, she felt for the very first time that she was exactly where she belonged, where she had always belonged and would always belong. There was something timeless about the way their bodies fit together so comfortably, so effortlessly as if they had once upon a long time ago been one complete being instead of two...and she would have been content to stay right here in his arms for the rest of eternity just listening to the slow rain and enjoying the lazy, hypnotic cadence of the rocking chair.

"Are you asleep?"

His deep voice made his Adam's apple vibrate against her nose. She liked that deep, quintessentially masculine sound. A simple question, but for some reason it made her squirm restlessly in his lap. She smiled against his neck feeling how her little movements had affected him.

"Kiss me," she murmured and lifted her mouth demanding to be pleasured.

Whispering across her face, his cool breath mesmerized her. Firm lips moved possessively over hers, and a sudden, powerful jolt of lust made her whole body clench and tighten with intense hunger. Edward pulled her more fully onto his lap, so that she faced him, her legs astride his powerful thighs, her knees resting on the soft cushions of the rocker, Slowly, he dragged the opened core of her aching sex over the long hard ridge between his thighs. The demanding feel of it made her shudder violently. With a deep, deep sigh, she melted against his chest.

He answered the shuddering of her body with a demand of his own...his feet braced themselves firmly on the floor as his arching hips lifted them both up from the cushioned seat one, twice, three times... and then again, causing the rocker to tilt dangerously backwards. His hands fumbled with the back of her shirt trying to find the warm smooth skin of her back.

Their kisses grew frantic as Bella slanted her open mouth over his... accepting the urgent penetration of his tongue as it swept around her lips and explored the warm, moist interior of her mouth. The chair continued to rock and jerk unevenly from the restless straining of their bodies.

How quickly they had moved from calm restraint to explosive desire...like 'fire and powder' as the Bard once described it. Bella saw herself standing on the edge of a dark awakening, a fiery cataclysm that beckoned her relentlessly forward to some great unknown, some fearful but desperately yearned for thing...almost like death. Just one more delicious thrust of his hips would take her there...maybe two...but they were on the porch, some slender thread of reason told her...

"Let's go upstairs," Bella tore her mouth from his and breathed hotly against his ear.

He may have heard her, but his answer was a low frustrated growl. He would not permit the removal of her lips from his.. even for a second... He grasped her hair roughly turning her mouth back to his so he could continue his thrusting forays deeper and deeper.

Suddenly, he stood with her in his arms. Her legs instinctively wrapped themselves tightly around his hips as Bella peppered his face with little nipping bites and moist kisses,

He looked around for some place to lay her down... his human side said, "Bed!" His predator instincts compelled him towards the forest. As he stood frozen momentarily by indecision, he heard Carlisle and Jake coming down the stairs in the house behind them, and in that moment, reason returned. Carlisle was thinking about coming out onto the porch.

Slowly, he let Bella's body slide down the front of his. Her moan and his groan as her warm core rubbed against his aching erection one last time was loud enough to draw the attention of his father.

"Edward?" Carlisle called hearing them.

"Bella!" Edward whispered shaking her to make her focus. She was so incoherent with lust, she was unable to form even the simplest thought. His lips were moving, she knew, but she had no idea what he was saying. He pulled her hands away from him abruptly.

He could see the sting of rejection in her eyes. Why did he keep hurting her this way. Couldn't she see he was no good for her?

She looked away from him.

He lifted her disappointed face for his inspection, a thumb and forefinger under her chin.

"Let's go for a walk." he murmured softly.

"A walk or a ride?" She was confused. Her words were still a bit slurred by the remnants of her dissipating desire .

"A little of both."

"Is it still raining?"

"Alice just assured me that the rain will stop in exactly two minutes. Get a jacket. The air is getting cool."

Amazed at his complete access to the thoughts of his sister and the others, she pulled her chin out of his grasp reluctantly...but not her thoughts, she gloated smugly... he couldn't hear what she was thinking, could he?

She hurried through the house, tossing a quick hello to Carlisle and Jake before mounting the stairs to grab a hoody out of the closet, she now shared with Edward. She liked the way her clothes looked along side of his. She took a minute to appreciate the sight.

She felt so alive. Her face was flushed. Hot blood supercharged by lust and adrenaline still raced through her veins. A pang of guilt made her heart clench, but she couldn't deny the way she felt when she was with Edward... powerful and weak at the same time...giddy with expectations and wild with reckless passion.

"Edward and I are going for a walk," she tossed at Carlisle and Jacob trying to sound casual and calm as she raced to the door where he waited.

As soon as she opened the screen door, he threw her onto his back and they went flying through the misty forest. Raindrops were still falling from the trees, and every once in a while a fat one would land on her head. They hadn't gone far when he stopped at a spot near a stream and set her on her feet She could still see the lights of the house dimly through the trees.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked him hopefully.

"Aren't you afraid to be in the woods at night alone with a thirsty vampire?"

"Yeah, I'm really petrified. Now tell me why we're here."

I want to show you why it's dangerous to provoke a predator like me, the way you just did back there on the porch... and last night in my room... and yesterday in the meadow..."

"Here we go again. Well, it takes two to tango, Buster And yes, I've "provoked" you several times already, if you want to call it that, but here I am still living and breathing. I think you've been alone so many years, you've turned into the vampire version of a repressed old maid. And I thought I was abnormal because I never..."

He put his hand over her mouth to stop her angry words.

"Stay here. I'll be right back."

With a blur of motion he disappeared. A minute or two had passed when Bella was startled by the bleating cry of an animal coming towards her through the mist. The fog parted, and there stood Edward. He held a large doe that struggled and squirmed in his arms. Stopping only a few feet away, he looked at her for a long moment with something like sadness in his eyes and then he pulled the doe's head back and bent his head biting through its jugular. His eyes never left hers while he rapidly drained the deer. Breaking its neck, he dropped it at his feet, and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He took a step or two closer to her. He meant to horrify her with his brutality, but despite his intentions, she was deeply moved by the beauty of his cat-like grace and the predatory efficiency of his hunting prowess.

"This is what I am," he told her. "A monster... a killer... Now do you see why you should fear me?"

Bella looked at him long and hard. She sighed deeply.

"Now, we have a problem, Edward."

He flinched from her words even though they were no more than he expected.

" Good. You understand now why I'm no good for you."

"What I understand is that we are going to have a hell of a time getting this venison back to the house." She turned and peered back the way they had come. You've ruined what I'd hoped was going to be a romantic stroll through the moonlight. I hope you're happy."

His blood-smeared mouth fell open.

She turned back to him, her eyes narrowed, her mouth tight with impatience.

" Look Edward, I decided at thirteen to become a vegetarian...but before that I ate venison every time I stayed with Charlie. Several times I helped him butcher deer he killed. I could gut and clean a salmon by the time I was eight. If you only knew how many times I've spent my Saturday nights up to my elbows in fish guts... you don't drink fish blood, do you? Because I really hate to clean fish... or horses...that might be a deal breaker. I really like horses."

" You aren't disgusted?" He blinked at her in confusion.

"Yes, I'm disgusted. I hate to butcher deer, but only because it's so messy, and just plain hard work. I come from a long line of hunters and fishermen who were proud to put meat on the table. I have some Quileute ancestors on my father's side. How do you think they lived? I don't have a problem with people who eat meat, even though I've made the choice to eat a vegetarian diet, myself. To each his own, I say. You're going to have to try a lot harder than this if you want to scare me off. I'm my father's daughter. He said you eat what you kill, so help me field dress this thing and get it back to the house. I don't guess you have a knife, do you? I'll make Jacob help. He's done this a hundred times."

"I don't eat meat, Bella. I drink blood."

"Yeah and what do you think that pink color is in a prime rib? Everybody who eats meat, drinks blood, Edward...maybe not as much as you do... maybe cooked blood... but they do drink blood."

"I need to tell you something else."

He said the words slowly... his eyes held hers. He stepped closer in case she panicked and fell while running away.

"Tell me."

" I ...I've drunk human blood before. When I was very young in this life. I went through a period of rebellion...it's no excuse... but I left Carlisle... went out on my own. I tracked down and killed serial murderers...not just one but many. I could hear their evil plans and when they struck, I was there to stop them."

Bella looked at her feet for a moment choosing her words carefully.

"So you killed to protect innocent people. I don't know the right or wrong of that. You'll have to figure that one out for yourself, but I know Charlie had to do the same thing several times. It was his job to protect the innocent and the weak, but he didn't do it just because it was his job. He did it because it was the right thing to do."

"God, Bella, I've just confessed to murder..."

"Did you kill them while they were planning to murder or prevent them while they were in the act."

"While they were in the act...once after... I didn't get there in time."

"Well, then I would have done that myself... if I could have... to save an innocent person from being killed."

"I don't know what to say."

"Say you're sorry. I thought you were bringing me out here for well, you know... not to skin a deer."

"I'll take you to the house and come back for the deer."

"No, you carry the deer. I'll walk. It's not that far."

As he slung the deer over his shoulders, Edward laughed. 

"What's so funny?"

He shook his head still laughing.

"I spend half the time happy that I've found one human being whose mind I can't read, and the other half wishing I could read your unpredictable mind. One thing I'm sure of though..."

"What's that?"

"I'm sure if I could read your mind, I would be terrified."

They both laughed.

"Just call me Buffy," she quipped. "And keep a close guard on your heart."

Suddenly solemn, he looked down at her.

"It's too late for that."

He took her hand and they wended their way toward the lights of home. The ground fog was beginning to rise up into the darkening trees, their path made clear before them.

"Don't forget, you owe me a bedtime story, Mister," she told him, "and it better be a good one!"


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: It's just me again playing with Ms. Meyer's characters in an alternate universe. I subscribe to the infinite worlds theory of quantum physics...somewhere there's a world in which Edward and Bella really exist, don't you think? No copyright infringement intended.

Author's Notes: Thanks for the kind reviews... they keep me at my keyboard.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 14

Jacob met them as they crossed the moonlit yard. Alice sent him. In no time at all, he had the deer strung up on a low limb of a large tree by the river. With swift efficiency he gutted, skinned, and quartered it. Both he and Edward carried the venison into the house so Bella could pull the back straps and start butchering and bagging the meat for the freezer.

Always before when he hunted, he had hidden the carcasses in the forest to rot there as if they were something shameful. Never had he paraded home with a dead animal draped over his shoulders as if it were something to be proud of. Jake's praise for the clean kill and the size of the dear made him feel confused. Funny how providing meat for the nourishment of humans made the act of hunting seem almost... he stared down at the bags of meat and tried to find the right word in the confused churning of his emotions...

Looking up from his slicing and dicing, Jake caught the disoriented look on Edward's face. Almost as if reading his mind, the wolf said, "You've never brought your kills home before?"

Edward flinched at his words.

"Hey, it's a good thing to put meat on the table,...it's what a man does; he feeds his family. Brings home the bacon whether it's a paycheck to buy groceries or actual bacon, a man takes care of his own. It was the sacred duty of the men in our tribe to become good hunters. Among the Quileutes, a man who can't hunt or fish loses his self-respect, his dignity. My dad fished and hunted from a wheelchair. I killed my first buck when I was nine, just a spike, but I was so proud. My dad dabbed some blood on my forehead and I wore it home to show my mom."

He grinned and pointed at Bella with his knife, "Even Bells may have to give up her rabbit diet and eat some of this if the garden doesn't come in soon enough. She loves venison... or did. Do her good. She's looking a little anemic these days, anyway."

Neither Bella or Edward could meet his eyes suddenly... guilt?

Jake caught himself. "Ah shit! I didn't mean it that way, dude...squeeze the faux pas. Okay?" He went back to his slicing, but the silence grew a little too long for comfort.

"Alice seems upset about something," Jake told them when they were almost done. In a surprise move, Edward kissed her cheek and left her alone with Jake as they finished up. She thought maybe he went to check on his sister.

"Did she say anything?" Bella asked after Edward left.

"Not to me...just muttering and pacing back and forth... sometimes staring off into space...I think they're going to call a meeting."

"Where's Rachel?"

"She's taking a class in Vampire 101 from Esme. Carlisle and I broke the news to her earlier, and she took it fairly well. Seemed glad that I wasn't a leech." He grinned down at her.

"Jake! That's just rude." She smacked him hard with a wet dish towel.

"What? They call me Dog every other breath. I'm not supposed to retaliate?"

She had to laugh.

"I've missed you Jake. We haven't been hanging out much since I moved in with... Charlie last fall... not like we used to when we were kids...what happened"

"I started phasing, Bella. It's been a hard adjustment, and for a long time I was afraid to be around you or anybody until I got a handle on the situation, you know?"

"Has Rachel been able to say anything yet?"

"No, but Emmett had an idea to give her an old cell phone. Can't use it to call people, but she types with the text feature and shows it to me ... beats carrying paper and pencil around all day."

"Has she said much about her family... her past?"

"No, and I don't think she will. It was bad, really bad, Bella. According to Edward, she lived in foster care most of her life and there was...abuse. Carlisle found scars on her back when he gave her a physical this afternoon."

The muscles in his jaw clenched as he ground his teeth together.

"The scars are shaped like..." He made a choking sound as he continued. "Carlisle says they look like a man's belt buckle...he's seen them before."

"Oh God!"

"I tell you what, Bells. The bastard who did that is damn lucky to have died of the virus...damn lucky!" His upper lip lifted into a disgusted snarl baring his sharp, white incisors. The muscles in his arms and neck seemed to shiver in reaction to his thoughts. He stepped back from Bella a few steps.

Just then Edward stepped through the kitchen door looking worried.

" You OK?" He seemed ready to grab Bella and run if necessary.

Drawing a deep breath, Jake visibly settled himself, reining in his anger by force of will.

"I'm right as rain," he reassured them but his eyes did not match the calm sound of his words.

"We're going to meet in the family room in five minutes. Can you call in the patrols, Jake? Carlisle wants everybody here for this one."

"Sure. Consider it done."

"Bella?" Command rumbled in his voice.

"Just finishing up." Folding the dish towel she had used to clean the counters, she took his outstretched hand.

Pausing at the door, Edward stopped suddenly and looked back.

"You're right. She comes when I call, but you're wrong about which one of us is being trained.

"You put a mark on her, and you'll answer to me."

Edward nodded slowly. He wanted to say that vampires always mark their mates, but for once he kept the smart-assed comment to himself... no need to antagonize the boy. Conflict among the ranks would only prove counterproductive in the coming days. Besides, his head was still reeling from the way Jake made him feel about the deer he killed. Damn! Was he grateful...to a werewolf?

Instead, he said, "You'd better be looking after your own. She's planning to run...just like she ran from the last two foster homes...that's what she does when she feels threatened, she runs. She's been living on the streets of Seattle for almost a year ever since she turned sixteen. Don't trust her for a minute."

"Thanks for the heads up."

"The meeting is about to start," he told Jake and left.

Once they were all assembled, Carlisle leaned forward in his seat on the sofa beside Esme... keeping her hand in his even as he spoke. Beside them on the couch, Jasper sat with his arm around a very distressed looking Alice. Carlisle cleared his throat. and everyone got quiet.

"Alice has something she needs to tell us," he said.

She looked at her mate as if to draw support. Giving her a sideways grin and wink of encouragement, he clearly was working a little mood magic.

"A decision has been made." Alice announced. "The Volturi will definitely be coming here to destroy us. Human blood is so scarce, Aro feels the competition must be eliminated. He and the guard have been killing off vampires everywhere they go...and collecting human survivors for his herd. He is waiting for the fall to give Felix and Jane time to destroy as many other covens and nomads as they can and to send back human survivors. If he comes in the fall with both Jane and Alec with the guard, we won't stand a chance. He's saving us until last."

The members of the pack exchanged looks...wolf telepathy..._ War!_

"Why us?" Rose asked, concern evident in her tone. "We're no threat...we're no competition to the Volturi... we don't even drink human blood." Anxiously, she looked down at Little Wolfe who was napping in her arms.

"Yes, but he knows Carlisle will also want to collect surviving humans... not for their blood, but to prevent extinction of the species. That makes us a threat," Edward clarified.

" Twenty-one survivors, that's how many he has found so far in Europe and Asia. The Western Hemisphere is next on his agenda. He hopes to find at least that many here." Alice told them.

She looked up at Jasper ; he took over.

"Aro wants to get rid of us because he figures Carlisle will refuse to just sit by while what's left of the human race becomes no more than groceries for his guard. If he finds out we have humans under our protection, that will make it much more tempting for him to attack. Alice sees it happening in the fall."

"Aro's never been to this house before. He'll definitely send spies first," Carlisle said, " to locate us and get the lay of the land before coming in with the full guard. Believe me, he will bring his human herd with him."

"Why would he do that?" Rose wanted to know.

"He'll bring them with him because he knows it will take both witch twins to defeat us, and he will be afraid to stay in Volturi without at least one of the twins to protect him."

"But why bring the humans with him?" Jake asked. "They'll slow him down. He'll have to find a plane, clear a runway, figure out a way to feed and secure them. Wouldn't it be simpler for him to leave them back in Italy?" 

" Yes, it would be simpler, but would you leave twenty-one bottles of wine in a room with a bunch of unsupervised alcoholics? Neither will he leave his blood supply with guard members while he takes care of us. Trust is not a word in his vocabulary...so yes, I promise, he will definitely bring them with him when he comes here. "

"Our biggest problem will be taking out Jane and Alec before they incapacitate us." Carlisle took a few minutes to explain the nature of the witch twins' powers to the girls and the pack. "They're unbeatable in a battle because she protects Alec from attack while he renders the enemy helpless. The rest of the guard can then kill everyone at their leisure. They've never lost a battle."

"They don't know about us, do they?" Jake interrupted.

"No, they don't," Jasper answered, but I'm not sure how we could best use that advantage."

" I guess we could preempt the battle and go to Italy... do a little surprise attack, but I prefer to fight this war here," Emmett told them. " We can't take the baby, Bella and Rachel with us, and we can't leave them alone while we go to Italy."

"So how do we make sure Aro brings the whole guard and the captured humans here?

"Let's play it like chess." Jasper suggested. "Jane is his queen, right? And Alec, the knight. Can we use her to check the King? Alice has seen him decide to send Felix and Jane to the West to conduct his vampire genocide. He won't send just the two of them against all of us, but I think he'll send them here to reconnoiter before he comes with the full guard in the fall. He'll tell them to make a spur of the moment decision to find us and check us out, maybe while they're out searching for humans and vampires. They won't confront us openly, so we have to catch them while they're passing through, kill Jane at least...check! Then all we have to worry about is Alec and the rest of the guard. If we can kill Alec before he tries to use his power on us in the autumn...checkmate. When they don't show up in Italy with survivors, he'll have to come...if he wants the rest of the human survivors, that is.

"We'll need a pawn," Edward offered. "Jane can only use her power on one attacker at a time, unlike her brother. Someone will have to distract her. If the pack can deal with her, surely the rest of us can take down Felix. Without his queen, Aro will have to depend on his knight. The question is how do we kill Alec without being able to see, hear, smell or feel him or anyone else.?"

"Who will be the pawn?" Biting her lip, Bella wished she had never asked the question.

"She'll choose the pawn, Bella," Alice told her gently. She met Edward's eyes, but neither one said anything else to her,

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," Carlisle said as he stood up. "It's late and I'm sure Bella, Rachel and the pack need their rest. Keep brainstorming...I'm sure we'll come up with a plan to deal with Alec. We have our vegetarian cousins in Alaska who may help us. Esme and I plan to make a trip up to see them in the next couple of days. I need to warn them before Aro sends his assassins their way. They don't have an Alice, after all. Jake, I'm counting on the pack to know when Felix and Jane show up. But for now, let's call it a night."

Jake stayed behind with Rachel as the others began to leave the room. He was content just to sit with her and enjoy the silence for a while. She was so still. Jake wondered what cruel circumstance had conditioned her to work so hard at going unnoticed as if she were trying to hide in plain sight.

Everyone left slowly... almost reluctantly. Maybe they found comfort just being in the same room together... a group of survivors united against the darkness of impending war.

Group? Were they just a group anymore?

Damned if he knew what they were... maybe friends, but no... it was beginning to feel like a family more and more as each day went by. Even their arguments felt like sibling conflicts. Nothing short of an apocalypse could have united these mortal enemies...now they all had bonded over one common cause...the protection and survival of the last few humans left alive on this earth.

Wolves, vampires and humans all living together in relative peace...too bad it took a global pandemic to make it happen.

While he had been pondering these mysteries, the room had completely emptied. Edward and Bella had gone hand in hand upstairs. Rose and Emmett following them carrying Little Wolfe who slept still soundly in Rose's arms.

He noticed Rose always wore long sleeves these days to keep her cool skin away from the baby, although she touched him and kissed him often. Did she ever put the baby down? Come to think of it, he had never seen her without him in her arms or somebody's. Those vamps passed the kid around like he was their favorite toy. Even the pack took turns playing with him or feeding him if... and only if...Rose allowed it and only under her direct supervision. The kid was going to be spoiled, but he seemed to be happy and thriving.

Alice and Jasper went with Carlisle and Esme to hunt, and the pack, except the two he had silently sent on patrol, raided the fridge and went to their rooms to play video games or watch movies on DVD and sleep...in a house full of vampires.

Finally, only he and Rachel were left. She sat like a little mouse beside him on the sofa waiting for him to indicate what she should do. She clutched the cell phone Emmett had given her tightly between the fingers of both hands, but she didn't text a single letter. She just waited like some submissive whose will had been given to another.

He couldn't begin to imagine what she must be thinking after all she had seen and experienced over the past few days. She was Dorothy lost in Oz... Alice though the looking glass... Beauty with the …. yes, he guessed that was about right... he was the beast, but not the kind of beast that would beat a young girl with the buckle end of a belt.

Maybe, if he sat here silently with her long enough, she would get so impatient or curious or bored that she would open that lovely mouth of hers and speak to him. He suddenly wanted desperately to see that mouth. With his hand under her chin, he turned her face up for his perusal taking his time to admire the fine grain of her ivory skin, the cerulean blue of her eyes, the gold brown arch of her brows, the luxuriant sweep of her lashes, the gleam of coppery streaks in the soft curls of her long strawberry blonde hair.

Sweet Jesus, yes...she was Beauty, and he was for sure a beast to think what he thought each time he even looked at her.

"Do you know the Bible?"

She started texting.

_Saw a Bible once... never read one._

"There's a story in the Bible about a man named Jacob who left his family and went his own way in the world. He met a beautiful woman named Rachel, but he had to work fourteen years before her father would let him marry her." Jake noticed that Rachel listened closely, but made no comment to his story.

Do you know why I told you this story?

_Because our names are the same as theirs?_

"Partly, but mostly because it is a story about a man who was willing to work for what he wanted. He was willing to wait fourteen years for the woman he loved."

No response came from her... well, of course not, he realized. He hadn't asked her a direct question.

"I'm willing to work at making you feel safe, Rachel. Eventually, you'll decide that you are safe enough to speak to me. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not going to give up, no matter how long it takes. And most of all, I promise I'll never hurt you like the man who beat you. Do you believe me?"

Jake noticed she didn't answer immediately. He waited. Finally, she began to hit the buttons on her phone.

_Want to talk...want to trust ...trapped in scary dream... can't wake up._

She handed him the phone. He nodded.

"I'll wait." he assured her.

She said nothing.

"Ready for bed?"

She touched the couch where they sat and then to herself. She pointed to him and then gestured toward the stairs.

He shook his head slowly.

"I'm sorry, but there is no way, you'll sleep anywhere but with me, especially tonight."

Muttering a vicious curse at her alarmed expression, he wanted to give in to her wishes, but realized it was best to start out as he meant to go on. Nothing but honesty between them... he would have it no other way.

"Rachel, there something about me that you don't know yet."

Alarm turned to fear as she subtly shifted further away from him towards the end of the sofa...probably expecting him to turn into a zombie or something after all she had seen the past couple of days.

He reached across and pulled her closer feeling the quaking of her body as he put hands on her. Drawing her close to his side, he wrapped one big arm around her shoulders. She might as well get used to his touch.

"Do you remember when I first touched you at the television station yesterday?' He felt her slight nod.

"Do you remember how it felt sort of like an electric shock?"

She pulled her arm free to text an answer.

_Not shock...exactly...intense...scared me...will you do that again?_

Jacob felt himself reacting to her description of the imprinting phenomenon and quickly used a cushion to cover his lap. She regarded his reaction with confusion, but waited for him to continue.

"So... well that feeling is part of what is called imprinting. When a wolf, werewolf, shapeshifter, whatever you want to call us, first sees the one he is supposed to ….when we see the one we're destined to be with for the rest of our lives, we imprint on them. That person becomes the most important person in our lives. Nothing else matters as much as that person, her safety and her happiness in that order."

_For life?_

"Until death...I belong to you."

He watched her face as she processed this new and startling information.

_Belong to me?_

He nodded.

_Like a slave?_

"Not exactly.."

Her eyes widened in comprehension.

"So, you see why, circumstances being what they are in the world these days, I will not leave you to sleep alone when at any moment some passing vampire could..."

_Afraid._

"Ah, Little Red..." he murmured softly as he threw the cushion on the floor and pulled her onto his lap. Pressing his lips to her temple, he settled her into his arms and sighed sadly. "I could no more hurt you than I could cut my own arm off...that's part of the imprinting thing. Unless your safety is at risk, I will never do anything that makes you unhappy. We can sleep down here on the couch if you want. I'll hold you right here the rest of the night...don't be afraid. You slept with me last night, you know."

They sat cuddled up together for a long time without talking at all. At first she sat stiffly in his lap, but soon her tense muscles began to relax and her breathing slowed and deepened. When Jake knew she was out for the count, he stood and carried her up the stairs. She didn't even stir when he laid her on the bed and pulled the covers over her.

He looked for a moment at the blanket he had used last night. Disdaining it, he climbed in beside her and reached for the lamp. Not the floor tonight, he sighed, happy to snatch this little space of happiness amid all the turmoil and strife of the past few days.

If she woke up and decided to make a run for it...well he knew he could track her down in no time, but he might not be the only dangerous animal out there in the woods tonight.

Drawn to his warmth even in her sleep, Rachel turned and tucked herself into the hollow spaces of his body as if they both were precisely crafted to be interlocking halves of a single puzzle. Fourteen years, could he wait that long? Probably not. He doubted he could wait fourteen days to take her. He tangled his right hand into her long hair... just in case. Drawing a deep breath, he savored the sweet smell of citrus shampoo and the uniquely enticing scent of his own Little Red Riding Hood. As he was drifting towards sleep, he heard her murmur something. He couldn't understand all of what she said, but he thought he heard her say his name. He smiled against her hair and drifted off content and complete.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. I do not own any of Stephanie's creations... just playing with them in another universe.

Warning: If you are not old enough for M-rated fanfiction, or if you are easily shocked, leave this site now...no complaining later.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 15

"Don't touch me!"

"Why?"

"If you keep touching me, Bella, I'll lose control. And for God's sake, don't fight me even if you get scared. Remember, I'm a predator, my first instinct will be to seize and subdue."

"But I want to touch you. I can't see you. It's too dark in here."

"Quit whining. I can see in the dark. Put your hands above your head. Hold on to the headboard."

"No."

"I'll stop right now."

She heard the metallic jangling of a belt as he reached for his jeans where they lay on the floor.

"No, don't stop. I'll do it. Are you shy because you're naked? Is that why you turned the lights off?"

"Hold still."

"What's that?" She could smell leather.

"My belt... hold still so I can fasten it to the metalwork on the headboard."

"Why?"

"So you can't move. I don't trust you."

Bella felt his cool touch on her bound wrists checking for circulation... then his fingers slid firmly down her arm...they dallied on the soft skin in the crease of her elbow before moving slowly down to her underarm and the side of her naked breast. His hand left her, but that was okay because his lips took over... pressing a devout kiss...first to her forehead...her closed eyes...the tip of her nose... the small indentation above her lips.

"Kiss me," she gasped. moving her head towards him restlessly, but he eluded her searching mouth and withdrew again as if to measure and maintain his control.

"Are you afraid?"

"Of you? Never."

"If you get scared, don't fight. Just tell me calmly and I'll stop...it's not too late to stop."

"I'm fine."

Then he returned to her. The tip of his index finger gently massaged the dimpled groove above the cupid's bow of her upper lip.

"Do you know what this is called?" he murmured in the darkness making her shiver.

"No."

"It's called the philtrum. Legends say when an angel shushes a baby in the womb so it won't talk about heaven after it's born, this little indentation above your lip is formed by the angel's finger."

Bella was past conversation. Her tongue reached out to lick his tormenting finger, and he drew it back as if she had burned him.

"Edward," she moaned straining towards the direction of his voice. "No more talking."

Silently, his hand settled on her chin smoothing over to the rapid pulse at the side of her neck where it lingered to feel the rapid rush of blood through her veins. Sliding down the arch of her neck, it sidetracked to her naked breast and circled to the delicate skin underneath and back up her right side... then down the middle between both breasts all the way to her belly button. She tried so hard to be still, but his long, slow caress made her moan and shake uncontrollably.

Cool, fragrant breath whispered across her lips and eyelids leaving her dizzy with longing. How badly she wanted his mouth... and magically, her wish was granted. Settling on her lips as if he owned them, he took one inquiring taste and then devoured her warm mouth in ravenous hunger...searching out every nuance of flavor, every variation of texture...pressing...pulling with lips and teeth her full upper lip, her throbbing lower lip, making a feast of her mouth alone before delving inside to discover that her delicate tongue was already an adoring slave to his mastery.

His hands tightened on her shoulders for a moment and then again they swept to her breasts cupping them in long, tormenting fingers. He rolled the nipples under his thumbs and pinched the hardened tips to a point just short of pain. Bella's body arched with surprising strength, lifting him with the strength of her arousal as she gasped and writhed on the bed.

Suddenly, he was gone.

"Edward?" Her voice was slurred. She sounded drugged.

"Give me a minute."

"Come back."

"Give. Me. A. Minute."

"Edward?"

"Are you afraid, yet?"

"Are you?"

"Yes!"

She waited in the dark ...listening. She could tell from the sounds of his harsh breathing that he stood in the dark at the foot of the bed looking at her stretched out on his bed.

"Turn the lights on. Don't be scared, Edward. Come back to bed."

"Bella, you can't know... the smell of you... the sounds you...the way you feel... like that..."

"You mean naked?"

"Ah God, don't say it..."

He was back beside her immediately, his possessive hands sweeping down her bound arms to her breasts once more... his mouth feeding at hers. She pulled against the belt he had used to restrain her and jerked against his marauding hands, Hesitating for a moment at her waist, he began to explore the smooth contours of her belly and below to the silky moist heat of her throbbing sex. Lowering his head over the apex of her thighs, he inhaled deeply and skimmed his nose over the softness there.

She froze, embarrassed at the growing wetness he would find, but there was nothing she could do about it. Counter intuitive as it seemed, with her hands tied, she felt strangely liberated. He would do as he pleased, and he pleased to explore with careful caresses all of her soft, secret folds. When his thumb settled gently on a certain spot, her whole body clenched and lifted to follow its every unspoken command. One finger, then two entered her while his thumb continued to mesmerize with sharp compelling jolts of pleasure. His long fingers moved deeper, but she felt him pause at the barrier of her virginity. A powerful shudder passed through his body from his shoulders to his thighs.

He rose above her and settled his weight carefully on her restless body. Wedging himself between her thighs, he removed his hand to brace himself with one hand so as not to crush her with his weight. He gently spread her quivering legs. She felt the other hand move down to position his hardened staff at her opening. Surely, the enormous thing that pressed against her was far too large to fit. She tensed in shock for a moment. Pain threatened. But then he moved his fingers back to the spot that still throbbed and ached so darkly.

"Bella, give me your neck."

Mindless with desire, she forgot her fear and turned her head.

Fastening his teeth on the tender spot where her neck met her shoulder, he bit her and simultaneously thrust resolutely through her maiden head in one heavy surge. The bite was shallow, but it stung like a little bee, so she hardly felt the greater pain of his massive intrusion into her body. He remained still for a moment or two sucking gently at the small bite, groaning at the delicious taste, giving her time to adjust. Gradually, his hips began to move...rocking gently against her at first and then more urgently. With a healing lick, he abandoned the small wound on her neck to focus on greater pleasures.

The steady thrust of his pelvis and the way he savored those small sips of her blood made Bella's heart and body contract involuntarily for a scary moment and then abruptly spasm as if she were having a seizure. Her inner muscles clenched hard and harder still around his thrusting sex...even her womb tightened so viciously that she feared she might easily die from the aching pleasure. She forgot to breathe. Her stunned heart stopped beating for a frightful eternity. but then lurched ahead at an alarming pace. Wave after wave of dark ecstasy rolled relentlessly through her body, Panic stricken, she fought to regain control, but the building waves of pleasure were unstoppable as he kept moving over her and in her and out and into her again and again in a powerful cadence that kept her riding the hard edge of her orgasm until he growled deep in his throat and abruptly shouted his loud ecstatic triumph to Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Holy Trinity in long. drawn out guttural groans of completion. He fell forward onto her with his full weight as he released a soft sighing breath into the side of her neck. He lay on her, silent and still.

There would be bruises on her shoulders, Bella thought happily as she sank softly from excruciating paradise to peaceful oblivion. Edward's weight on her body would be uncomfortable in a little while, but right now, having an unconscious vampire on top of her was as necessary as air itself. His weight would keep her from floating to the ceiling, through the window and then up, up, up to the moon. She had just enough energy to place a small kiss on the side of his neck and to notice that he wasn't breathing before she drifted into a happy, satisfied sleep.

Her nap didn't last very long...five minutes maybe less, before the weight of his large body made breathing too difficult for comfortable sleep. Her arms were getting stiff.

"Edward...wake up!" She nudged his cheek with her chin as she squirmed restlessly under him. Strange! Her lips were still throbbing... and OMG! He was still inside her. Her eyes widened when her inner muscles contracted around him as if reluctant to release him. How tempting it was to press against him just a little more ...and so she did, surprised at how quickly desire could rekindle. Being joined like this to him somehow felt so right...so familiar. She moved against him once again feeling deliciously wicked at taking advantage of an unconscious Edward. Just once more...

Gasping hoarsely, like a swimmer coming up from a long dive, he pulled air into his lungs and then leapt back from her body in a shocking motion that left her still tied to the bed but feeling suddenly very empty. The lights came on and she blinked against the harsh brightness finding him crouched near the door with his hand on the switch. He was very, very naked and still very much aroused.

He stared across the room at her... amazement in his eyes.

"I came."

"Yes, you certainly did," she purred, admiring the fine sight he made.

"Inside you!"

"Most definitely inside me."

"I fainted."

"Edward, men don't faint, they pass out," she corrected him. "Now come here and untie me. My arms are getting stiff."

In a heartbeat, he was beside her, which gave her a very interesting up close and personal view for a few seconds as he carefully unwound the leather belt from her slightly reddened wrists and started rubbing the muscles of her arms before lowering them to her sides."

"Ouch, that stings!"

"Sorry, but you kept touching me and ... and I worried you would fight me if you got scared."

"Why on earth would I try to fight you? I'm the one who browbeat you into this."

"I passed out..."

He quit rubbing her arms suddenly and climbed into bed gathering her into his arms.

"Yes, I'm proud to say you did."

"Bella, vampires don't pass out. I've never lost consciousness before...ever..."

"Well most vampires probably don't wait a hundred years to get laid, do they?"

"I don't know."

"You left the lights on."

"I passed out."

"Well, so did I, and we would both still be sleeping if you hadn't tied me up... no more of that."

He pressed a fervent kiss to her temple. "That was the most intensely wonderful experience of my entire...life." His face was a study in seriousness.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Wait!"

"What?"

He tilted her head back searching for the place where he bit her.

"I marked you..." For some strange reason this seemed to please him enormously. For the first time since they had climbed the stairs to his room , he actually smiled...no he grinned... no he chuckled. It had to be a guy thing, Bella thought.

"Will I be a vampire now?"

"No, I would have to inject venom before that would happen, and I sucked the bite clean before sealing it. No chance you'll be changed from this little hickey..." He brushed a cool finger over the spot. "but it will leave a little sparkling scar. No more of that. It's too dangerous." Laughing at the disappointment on her face, he continued to inspect her body as if she were some new purchase and he had to make sure all the parts worked and were undamaged. When his eyes fell to her shoulders, he frowned.

"You'll have some bruises here," he said fitting the tips of his fingers in the slightly purple spots on each shoulder. "

"I don't think it's all that unusual even among humans." Raising a hand, she rubbed the frown lines between his eyebrows until they released and disappeared. "The important thing is now you know... this is possible...we are possible. Right?"

"Yes," he left off his inspection of her naked body and looked into her eyes with solemn intent.''

"Bella, I love you."

"As I love you," she vowed.

They smiled and sealed their confessions with a sweet lingering kiss after which Edward flung himself back onto the pillow and pulled Bella up onto this chest with a sigh. He put a hand to his forehead and stared at the ceiling for a moment.

"I passed out!" he breathed still incredulous, and it made her giggle.

"Yes, you did, and you quit breathing too. If I hadn't known vampires don't have to breathe, it would have been cause for concern."

"You told me you were flying to the moon."

"No, I didn't," she denied.

"Yes, you did. You said you were flying up to the ceiling , out the window and up, up to the moon."

She shook her head looking confused, but he ignored her.

"I didn't kill you either. I made love to you and I didn't kill you."

"You drank my blood too. But... let's not forget the most important thing."

"What's that?" he asked her nervously as if he had overlooked something of dire consequence.

"You passed out!"

With a hoot of laughter, he fell upon her and began to tickle her in all the most vulnerable spots. They rolled around on the bed until they wound up in the floor Edward deftly turning them as they fell so that Bella landed on his chest but all wound up in a tangle of sheets.

"I smell blood."

He pulled the sheet away from her lower body. Red streaks trickled down the insides of her pale thighs, the proof of her virginity.

Bending his head reverently, he licked the crimson stains away. Then, looking up into her eyes, he smiled at her blushing cheeks.

"Marry me...Bella."

"Yes." she breathed and pulled him up into her arms.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Not my vampires, just chasing them around in an alternate universe. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for the dream, Stephanie.

Author's notes: Thanks for the reviews. They never fail to motivate me.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 16

"You're a good little hoer, Rachel."

Bella said it with a straight face as she looked back down the row of beans they had just finished hoeing. She could see the open-mouthed shock on the girl's face in her peripheral vision. As long as she didn't look Rachel in the eye, she was able to contain her giggles, but as soon as she turned to see the expression on her face, Bella dissolved into laughter. Rachel smacked her on the back of the head...none too gently. It made her laugh even harder. She enjoyed saying things that got a rise out of her new friend unlike everyone else who tiptoed around her because she couldn't talk. They both fell together laughing so hard they had to hold each other up and even then almost ended up on the ground.

When the giggling fit was over, they caught their breath and went back to work. It was strange that Rachel could giggle and laugh but not talk. Jake said she talked in her sleep though and everybody knew she could scream. They had all heard her that first night after Jake brought her back from Seattle. But every time she tried to say an actually word, her throat seemed to just lock or something. Funny what trauma could do to a person.

After a few minutes, Bella continued her monologue trying to pass the time as they worked.

"Carlisle and Esme are due back with the cousins tomorrow. They went up to help them pack their stuff on trucks. Carlisle said he had to stop several times the first time going up to push cars and trucks out of the highway so they could get through. They didn't really need to drive except they took Seth with them. Of course, they brought a load of stuff back for Carmen. I hope they don't run into any trouble coming back this time."

_Lot of vampires out there?_ Rachel signed raising her eyebrows to punctuate. In the past four weeks they had become close friends. Their conversations were a little one-sided until Bella found a book about sign language in Carlisle's library. The two girls spent a couple of hours each day learning the alphabet and signs.

"Yeah, Edward doesn't know how many nomad vampires are out there. Nobody's spotted any around here so far, but the vegetarian cousins are on their way... Emmett and the rest of the pack almost have their cabin ready. I like the site they picked. Back in the trees but near the river for water and electricity. Close enough in case of trouble. I'm glad Seth is staying in touch with everyone here. Walkie-talkie wolves ...that's what we got."

Rachel shot a look at the ever vigilant Jake. He waved his tea glass at her.

"I think Seth's crushing on Tanya even though he's just a kid. That's what Edward tells me. Alice says she isn't exactly fighting him off. Edward said she's a little old for him and laughs...for some reason. Course he's one to talk? Tanya's the one who made a play for Edward according to Alice. Hmmm... just tell me how I'm going to deal with that situation when they get here?"

_Help you beat slut up .. she makes a play for your man._

" Like I'm sure the two of us could, for sure, take one vampire bitch?" They both laughed.

"Alice is working on wedding plans. I want to have the ceremony before the Volturi kills us all . How's that for morbid? It may be a very short marriage if we can't figure out how to deal with Jane and Alec."

They both fell into darker musings for a spell.

"You're a good listener, Rach,"

Bella leaned on her hoe again for a moment and grinned mischievously at the girl. She meant it as a joke, but decided it was actually true.

They had been working in Emmett's garden most of the morning...that's what everybody called it...Emmett's garden, as if he would ever eat a bite out of it. But he loved his little farm like Rosalie loved her collection of vehicles...always working on it...always talking about it. Sometimes, Bella wondered if he would actually allow anyone to eat any of the the produce come harvest time.

She went rattling on as she chopped weeds and pulled dirt up to the beans, stopping every now and then to replant or thin as needed. Every other word or phrase was usually about Edward. Edward this and Edward that and Edward the other. Bella had Edward on the brain these days. Ah Edward! She sighed again in longing and searched the edge of the forest. She spent her days in a stupor of sated desire and her nights...she dared not even think about the nights. No wonder she had to take so many naps these days.

Now that Edward had realized he could control his blood lust and satisfy his sexual lust without killing her, his confidence grew every day, and he was insatiable. Everybody smiled when the two of them walked in a room. Even Carlisle had given up the cause and seemed to accept them as a couple. Guess he found some eggs in another basket.

Bella smiled to think about how Edward couldn't seem to quit touching her no matter where they were...holding her hand, placing his hand on her back, pushing a stray curl behind her ear, an arm around her shoulders. He took advantage of any private moment to kiss her, and some not so private moments...So much PDA was a little embarrassing, but no one said much about it except Emmett and his teasing was out of control.

The morning after the night they first made love, he had been waiting at the breakfast table.

Edward had said to her in a strange tone ," Bella, you need to eat a good breakfast. I noticed you didn't eat much last night for supper." The funny thing was that he looked at Emmett when he said it.

And, to give him credit, Emmett controlled himself silently watching her until she had finished her meal. Then he leaned over the table and smirked, saying,

"One small step for Bella; one giant leap for vampire kind."

At first, she didn't get it. His comment made her remember the conversation about the moon last night, but...she looked at Rose who was also stifling laughter. Then it hit her. Her face felt like a third degree burn. She was sure the skin was about to blister and blacken and fall off in her lap. Emmett put a finger to his ear and pantomimed, "Vampire hearing."

She had looked at Edward with horror. They had all heard every little thing she and Edward had said and done last night..and he had known they would and didn't tell her! Rose could see trouble coming, so she took both her babies out of the kitchen.

"They heard everything? And you knew?"

He shrugged looking at the floor looking for all the world like a sullen seventeen year old. Good God! He didn't even look apologetic.

" You know what?" Meeting her eyes, he finally spoke. "I don't even care. You'll just have get used to it. I've had to hear the God awful noises they make when they're ...well... involved... night after night and night...and every disgusting, pornographic thought they've ever had for almost a hundred years. What did you want me to do? Carry you into the forest and screw you on the ground like some animal?"

She had refused to speak to him the rest of the day. That night, she scooted to the far side of the bed and slapped his hands away for an hour until he got up and put a CD in the sound system.

"There," he said coaxing her to turn over. "Now they can't hear anything but Old Blue Eyes.

"Really?" she asked uncertainly.

"Really," he promised. "That's how I drowned out their noise when I couldn't stand it anymore. Why do you think I have so much music? It doesn't even have be very loud. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. If it worked to drown them out, it should work for us."

And she believed him because... well because she wanted to.

Of course, Emmett's teasing didn't stop, but it was without specific references just general ribaldry designed to torment. Now, they lined up their play list every night, and she had to admit, the sensuous, romantic tunes Edward chose seemed to add something special to each bout of lovemaking, marking it as unique and making it all the more memorable. They rarely made love to the same song twice, and they rarely made love in quite the same way twice. He was extraordinarily horny for a centenarian, but he was also romantic and creative. At times he would put a song on replay and take his time seducing her until she was half mad with frustration, and at times he would take her so quickly, it left her breathless, but fast or slow...rock 'n' roll or Beethoven...it was always beautiful.

Bella felt a small clod of dirt hit her butt and the garden rose up around her once again...She turned to find Rachel picking up another clump of ammunition. Seeing she had Bella's attention, she dropped it.

_Thinking about Edward again?_

_How can you tell, _Bella signed back.

_Sappy look in your eyes. _Rachel smiled.

Everyone except Jacob and Bella seemed reluctant to talk to Rachel. They didn't mean to be rude, they just felt awkward, but Bella refused to treat her like she was handicapped, besides, not talking to her made it easier for her not to talk.. weird as that sounded. . Bella hoped that frustration or sheer boredom might jump start her speech. If she felt more need to talk maybe someday she would just forget her fear and say something.

Bella finished hoeing her row of beans and waited for Rachel to catch up.

"If you didn't talk so much, you could keep up," she teased. She got another clod of dirt in the back for her comment.

The garden was as far as Bella's or Rachel's leash would reach, but it was far enough away from the house so that they had a little privacy. Neither she nor Rachel were ever left alone or allowed to go walking even in the woods around the house without Edward or Jake.

The babysitter de jour was Jacob resting from patrol, who sat on the front porch drinking tea and watching them. Edward guarded both girls when Jacob ran patrols and Jake took over guard duty when Edward took off to hunt. He and Emmett were going for their favorites today: cougar and bear. She remembered how she had sent him off to hunt about ten this morning with a smile and a joke.

"Go hunting. You need your strength, I'm wearing you out." she had teased him from the disheveled bed. He had tossed her over his shoulder and dragged her upstairs after breakfast 'to listen to some music'."

Pulling on his pants and shirt, he grinned at her naughty implication.

"Vampires don't get tired, Bella. Actually, I've been holding back because you are a just a poor, weak little human."

"Four or five times a night is your idea of holding back," she sputtered.

"Like I said, vampires don't get tired, but I will go with Em to hunt because I need to be at the top of my game if we have visitors, besides, a well fed vampire is a safer vampire."

"Does the smell of my blood still..."

"Your blood will always smell... and taste...delicious to me, Bella, but the way I react to it is somehow changing. My reaction used to be thirst...extreme almost uncontrollable thirst, but now your scent reassures me that you are near and safe and it also makes me...it's becoming more like a...aphrodisiac...sort of...it makes me want to do very wicked things to you...not just drink your blood. Does that shock you?"

"Wicked things?"

"Very wicked things..." he flashed over to the bed for another long kiss goodbye and somehow forgot to leave.

When his hands began to wander, she shoved him away already breathless. Of course, she didn't have the strength to overpower even his pinky finger, but every single time she pushed his hands way, he allowed it as if to show her that she was the one with all the power in their relationship.

Vampire strength be damned.

It was a complicated game they played, but one designed to let her feel as powerful as he was... because in all the ways that mattered to him, she really was. She loved him for a million reasons, but one of the most important reasons she loved him was because of this abrogation of his power which she found ultimately endearing... chivalrous even. In terms of her safety, he would dominate her, bully, force, and subjugate her, but in all else, he bowed to her will.

"Your eyes are almost black...go!" she ordered him. Kill some lions and tigers and bears!" She knew he preferred the blood of predators.

"Oh, my!" he joked.

And so he had left her with another kiss hot enough to make her toes curl and strict orders to stay close to Jacob until they returned. It worried him to be away from her even for a second, but Alice, Jasper, and Rose were close by working on Carmen's cabin.

And so...She had spent her morning with Rachel... talking and working in the garden... and missing Edward. Bella leaned on her hoe and watched the edge of the forest... searching for the first sight of Edward coming through the trees. He should be back soon. Daydreaming... she did a lot of that these days...

Rachel leaned over and pinched her arm bringing her back to the here and now.

"Ouch!" Bella rubbed the sting out of the pinch as she glared at her friend.

_I think you're a better hoer than I am, Bella. _Rachel signed to her.

Bella snickered. "'When I'm good, I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better.'" She vamped with one hand on her hip as she quoted Mae West.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but pretty soon, Edward's going to make an honest woman of me. How are things going with you and Jacob? He can't take his eyes off you."

Rachel blushed and shook her head.

Bella waited for Rachel to say more as they started down the next row, but she didn't.

"Don't worry. Things will work out. Don't let him push you into anything you're not ready for."

_Did Edward push?_

"Oh, believe me...I was the one pushing Edward. I knew from the first time I saw him...even though he was scary as hell...I knew he was the one. But I ran. If it hadn't been for the plague...we wouldn't even be together. Scary to think about it, but after he came for me that day. I had no intention of letting him go again. He didn't have a chance."

When they got to the end of the row, Bella's stomach growled. She was hungry... for something but she couldn't quite decide what she wanted to eat... something salty. She was also thirsty and thinking about that case of cold ginger ale Esme had salvaged from a small country store on the way back from Alaska. She was really beginning to like Esme, although Edward's mother was everything Bella's mother had never been. Thoughtful, industrious, responsible and competent... thinking of little surprises to spoil her children every now and then. Bella was flattered that she was now included in the growing number of children that Esme spoiled.

Her feelings for Esme made her feel disloyal...especially when images of her mother, dead in the front seat of a Volkswagen beetle somewhere between here and Jacksonville crowded her mind. She loved her mom. She really did, but the role reversal thing happened very early in their relationship... about the time Bella turned seven actually.

Her wool gathering was abruptly terminated by a sickening lurch of her stomach. The nausea hit her so suddenly all she could do was hold tightly to her hoe handle, bend over and vomit.

Jacob came running. Rachel and he held Bella's hair back as she tossed her cookies again and again into the weeds at the end of the row. Her legs gave out, and she knelt in the dirt for Act II...bitter green bile, followed by Act III, the dry heaves. Tearing off his shirt, Jake wiped her mouth with one side and used the back to wipe the sweat away from her clammy forehead.

Then as suddenly as the nausea came, it disappeared. She felt great! A little weak maybe, her stomach was sore...but really great... she felt hungry...starved even. She tried to stand up, but Jake wouldn't have it. She glared at him. Wow, she thought, he really really looks hot without a shirt. Even sick unto death, a woman would have to appreciate that chest... those abs... and shoulders to die for. She shocked herself...oh well, he couldn't compare to Edward. She looked at Rachel and rolled her eyes at the way the girl ate him with her eyes. She wasn't the only one impressed, obviously.

"Ginger ale," she said.

Muttering low curses, Jake bent and picked her up. He carried her up to the shade of the porch and sat her in the rocker. Rachel ran to get the cold drink as Jake knelt and took Bella's hands in his own. They both looked down... addressing their words to her belly. She knew that look. The werewolf had something on his mind.

"Are you late?"

"Yes."

"Boobs sore?"

"Yes." She blushed fiercely at his blunt questions.

"Does he know?" Jake's mouth was a thin, grim line.

"Not possible," she breathed. "Carlisle said it wasn't possible. Humans and vampires can't have babies." She looked up finding her own fear reflected in Jake's fierce, brown eyes.

"I ought to kill the son of a bitch," he hissed. "I'll talk to Carlisle. He'll take care of it, don't worry."

She grabbed his hand as he started to stand up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Bella, he's a doctor, he will take care of it. You can't carry a vampire's child to term. It would be monstrous. It might kill you!" He turned his back and stared off into the forest. He was just about to go stomp some serious vampire ass.

"No! You listen to me Jacob Black! If I'm pregnant with Edward's child, I will most surely carry it to term. This child is no more a monster to me than Edward is... or you are. Will you refuse to let Rachel have your children when the time comes because they'll be half werewolf? Whatever is growing inside me is a thing that will be born of love. I will love it if it has two heads and four eyes. You will not tell Edward or Carlisle anything, do you hear me?"

"Too late," he said matter of factly and stepped aside to reveal a horrified Edward standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Bella?" From the look on his face, she could tell he had heard Jake's thoughts and what she had just said through them.

"I'll be fine, Edward," she assured him holding her hand out to him.

He ignored her hand. Gently, he picked her up and sat down in the rocker with her in his lap holding her close, her head tucked into his shoulder. She could feel him shaking. He did not rock her. They sat perfectly still. For a long time neither of them even spoke a word.

Jake took Rachel's elbow and pulled her into the house trying to hold his temper in check so that he wouldn't phase. Rachel was a little afraid of this Jacob. He wasn't the gentle man who had slept chastely beside her for the past four weeks. He was mad enough to kill. She sat quietly beside him not wanting to aggravate the situation.

Outside on the porch, they heard the vampire say, "At the very first sign of trouble, you will terminate this pregnancy... do you hear me, Bella?"

"I hear you," she murmured serene in the sure knowledge that nothing would go wrong. All of her instincts told her everything would be alright... she couldn't say how she knew this thing... but she knew it like she knew the sound of his voice, the smell of his skin, the taste of his lips which were even now moving tenderly over hers. She just knew it.

"Did you get a bear?"

"And a cougar."

"Would you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Could you grill me one of those rib-eye steaks, Alice keeps stockpiled in the freezer?

"Steak?"

She nodded. "I want it rare."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Just paying homage to for her gift of Edward and Bella...yes and Jacob...to the world. All belong to her... Thanks O Great One!

Author's Notes: Sorry about the slow update...went on a little vacation, and I had to get my head straight about where the plot is gonna go... and sometimes, I pick and pick at the prose like a OCD gardener in a acre full of weeds.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 17

When the dream begins, she's laughing and running through the green, green forest. Her pale blue skirt flutters around her legs like fairy silk as she darts around ancient firs and through patches of sunlit bracken. She calls his name in teasing tones that echo around and about him. A falling stream of sunlight catches her for a golden moment in its brilliant path as she pauses to catch her breath and look back at the one who is chasing her.

He is the one... playing hide and seek with the glimmering girl...a huge russet wolf, laughing as wolves laugh, letting his desire build in the playfulness of his pursuit.

The chase speaks to the savage nature of his beast. He holds back...wanting the game to last longer because she is so beautiful and strong in her carefree flight. She hides behind a tree, and he sits back on his haunches, howling in feigned frustration because she refuses to be caught. She laughs again and turns once more to run, but a vine snags her food and she falls to the moss-covered forest floor amid lacy ferns.

With an easy leap, he lands just behind her and phasing, rises from his haunches, a man once more. Is she hurt? Still sprawled on her stomach in the greenery, she turns her head and smiles at him over her shoulder. Her blue eyes hold mysteries deeper than the forest around them.

He steps from his shadow into her bower of gold and green. The serious purpose in his eyes makes her scramble to her knees intent on further flight, but he is upon her before she can stand. The hot skin of his naked chest burns against her back as he pushes her slowly down to the ground. Large hands braced on either side of her head, dig deeply into the cool moss. The sinews and muscles of his brown arms tense and flex ready to block any escape. The side of his dark head presses heavily between her shoulder blades. Nosing through her hair he nips her tender ear lobe...searing her skin with moist heated gasps. He nibbles his way down the pulsing vein on her slim throat. With a moan, she turns her head to give him greater access.

The game is done. She will not run again.

Sharp white teeth find the side of her neck where it meets the shoulder; they bite down on the tender skin firmly enough to threaten pain if she tries to move. His nose flairs drawing in the sweet smell of sunshine on her warm skin and the subtle feminine scent of her desire, an intoxicating perfume that makes his head swim He moves powerfully behind her...against her.

She shivers and moans at the iron hard erection pressing between the cheeks of her ass. Flexing his hips, he moves himself slowly rolling back and forth against her. He feels the bone clenching shudder that ripples through her whole body destroying his control. Releasing her neck and growling low in his throat he uses one hand to push her skirt aside. Punching his thumb through the wet crotch of her panties he rips away the last silken barrier to his lust.

Mounting her with a determined grunt, he does not relent, even when she tenses in momentary fear of his immense size and the dark, painful pleasure of his entrance. Her eyes widen at the sudden swelling that locks him deep inside her.

Firmly, seated, he begins to move in the instinctive rhythm of renewal. With her, he is complete...no longer divided. He is one creature, the warrior and the beast in perfect accord for the first time, bending over her, captured, mounted and mated in the middle of the primeval forest where his ancestors, both wolf and man, thrived for thousands of years. She too is complete, no longer afraid of any man or beast, no longer silenced by her fear, fully and completely his woman, in total submission to his desire... here where the silent towering cedars watch with solemn approval.

"Jake..." she moans pushing back against him in demand.

The dream ends.

But...

Someone kept calling his name. He opened his eyes to find himself in bed with Rachel plastered against his naked chest, still asleep and moaning his name in breathy tones...her small, hard-tipped breasts burning brands against his skin... his erection straining against her silky core... the only thing between them... her thin shirt, her pajamas and his sweats which now looked as if someone built a teepee inside the front of them.

"Shit!" His curses blistered the air as he pulled himself away from her silken limbs and sat up on the side of the bed trying to draw enough air into his lungs to cool his... ardor. He put his head in his hands and bent over at the waist trying to surmount the aching pain of the almost constant arousal he had endured over the last month.

Every night for weeks she had curled up on her side of the bed before she went to sleep, and every night, she ended up on his side of the bed, her arms and legs around him, clinging to him like a frightened monkey.

He knew why. She was still messed up from all the shit that had happened to her before and after the virus struck... and because she trusted him to protect her ... and because she trusted him, he couldn't take advantage.

But Christ! Didn't she know what it did to him to wake up every night with her moaning and groaning his name as she practically lay on top of him?

He couldn't take much more of this; his will power was not without limits, but he was reluctant to sleep elsewhere and leave her in a room alone. He had seen how vampires move. He was fast, but no one was as fast as a thirsty vampire in pursuit of human blood.

He jumped when he felt her small hand touch his naked back tentatively. Turning, he saw her eyes were open and questioning. She sat up cross-legged on the bed.

Sweet Mother of God. Don't look!

_Did I wake you up again? Sorry._

It's okay... I thought I heard someone calling me, and it woke me up. I think I'll just take a blanket and sleep on the floor tonight...so I won't keep you awake. I'll be right here beside you, so don't be scared. He tried to turn away again unable to look at her and get control of himself at the same time. She caught his cheek with one hand and turned it back to her, signing furiously right under his nose so fast it was hard for him to follow.

_I don't want you sleeping on the floor. I'll sleep on the floor myself. I'm so sorry. _

He turned away again but felt the bed move slightly as she grabbed a blanket and slipped to the floor in front of him He closed his eyes, but soon enough felt her place her hands on either side of his face as she knelt in front of him... almost between his legs. Jesus, was she trying to kill him?

Tears filled her blue, blue eyes as her hands moved slowly.

_I make you unhappy? _

"No...it's just that... I had a dream..."

_A scary dream? _Although she couldn't imagine what could possibly frighten him.

"Not exactly."

_Want to talk about it? _

"No." He said emphatically. He gently took her shoulders and tried to move her back from between his legs, but she seemed confused by his actions, sitting back on her heels looking almost hurt by his rejection. He studied the floor and refused to look at her. He was usually so affectionate, touching her, talking and flirting with her over the past few weeks. He seemed content to sleep beside her each night but never took it further than a goodnight peck on the cheek and cuddle or two. Sometimes he hugged her or held her in his lap before they went up to bed, but he was always kind to her. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

Maybe he needed a hug. He hugged her all the time, and she realized suddenly, she had never really hugged him back.

Raising herself up onto her knees, she put her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, cheek to cheek... tightly... held his head against her own.

It was just more than he could take. Weeks of frustration. Weeks of wanting and not being wanted... imprinted and not mated. Horny as a rogue rhino on the plains of the Serengeti, Jacob wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, around and onto the bed. He followed her down with a long rapacious kiss... pressing her head back onto a pillow, burying his fingers in her tangle of golden hair. His tongue plundered her mouth with a ferocious hunger that sizzled and popped in his brain like a red cedar fire. He wasn't even aware that she wasn't kissing him back until he heard the heart-wrenching little whimpers she began to make against his mouth. Her hands were pushing ineffectually against his shoulders as he held her down.

The sound of her sobbing was like ice water on the fires of his lust.

"Oh God! I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry.." he pulled away from her mouth but paradoxically held her face between his large hands pressing little pecks of apology over her cheeks and forehead. God! He tasted tears. Pulling her into his arms, he rested his spinning head on top of hers and caught his breath in pain and misery.

"I'm a pig... I'm a pig... that's all I can say, Rachel. I'm so sorry. I won't do it again, I promise."

Finally, her sobs and tears were spent. He raised his head to look at her ...half expecting to see disgust and hate written on her tear streaked face. What he found was a thoughtful expression as if she was on the verge of figuring out an especially difficult puzzle. She struggled free of his arms and pushed him back onto his pillow. Narrowing her eyes fiercely at him, she began to sign just above his nose making him flinch from the anger expressed in her gestures.

_I can't stand to be held down like that. In the last foster home where I lived, the man held me down or tied me up with a rope and beat me with a belt. I felt so helpless and dirty because after he beat me he..._

"Did he rape you?" Jake whispered, horror darkening his eyes.

_No! he touched me and he... you know... touched himself...down there..._ _That's why I ran...lived on the streets... hiding from everyone...until ... and then you came._

Her eyes fell, refusing to meet his. Shame colored her cheeks.

He lifted her chin with his index finger.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of." His dark eyes held storm clouds, as he ran his hand lightly under the back of her shirt gently caressing the little rectangular scars there. These marks are his shame, not yours. If I could, I would find the monster who did this to you, and I swear, I would tear him apart with my bare hands. I would utterly destroy him. Do you believe me?" He lifted her chin higher forcing her to look at him.

She nodded.

They searched each others eyes for a long moment and then Rachel did the unthinkable... she drew a deep breath and lowered her mouth to his in the sweetest kiss imaginable. She had received his touches, his kisses, his affectionate hugs for several weeks, but she had rarely touched him voluntarily and she had never, once kissed him of her own accord. Jake's heart jerked in his chest at the shock of it...to think that she could endure such degradation and torture and still have the courage to bless him with the gift of her kiss. He made a hungry sound in the back of his throat and relaxed into his pillow letting her have her way with him.

She followed him down, her lips moving over his almost greedily now as if searching for something he wasn't sure how to give her. At first, he lay very still as if a butterfly had landed on his mouth, and he was afraid of scaring it away. Intrigued by her ardor, he allowed himself to respond just a little to the inexpert movements of her lips. When she didn't stop, he almost put his arms around her and thought better of it. If she didn't like to be restrained, he was better off with his hands out of the way... but where to put them? He reached up and took hold of the brass rail that served as a headboard. Wrapping his fingers around the metal, he held tightly while she continued to work her magic. He groaned at the joy of her kisses freely given. She drew back and looked at his mouth sternly.

"Don't stop," he whispered.

Lowering her mouth once again, she swept her tongue around his lips. But when it went searching for his own, probing timidly between his lips, he couldn't keep still any longer. He thrust his tongue deeply inside her mouth overpowering hers in a kiss that left them both panting and straining against each other. Rachel spread her legs and straddled his waist frustrated...wanting to be closer, but it wasn't nearly close enough. His thrusting body lifted both their bodies off the bed…. Hands went everywhere...He could hear the pounding of his own heart and hers, louder and louder and louder until he realized the pounding was not just in his chest or hers...someone was pounding on the door... someone was calling his name.

"Jake! Get out here." It was Edward. Didn't you hear Quil just now? He and Embry are trailing three nomads who just came through Forks. They're following old scent trails from there to us here. Get your ass out here. Alice says we have about five minutes.

"Get your shirt on!" he hissed at Rachel. She watched wide-eyed as he flew to the door pulling up his sweats over a magnificent ass. He didn't bother with shoes. She fumbled for her shirt as she was being dragged towards the door. Strange, she didn't even remember taking it off.. She was still pulling it into place as Jake opened the door and found Edward and Bella waiting.

"Tell the rest of the pack to phase, head out and circle around to meet with Quil and Embry as they get close to the house. I don't think the nomads will pay the wolves much attention if they stay back." Edward told him.

"Already done, " Jake told him as they all hurried down the stairs.

Jasper was in the living room with Alice and the rest of the family.

"Two males...one female..." he told Jacob. "Edward says they're almost crazed with thirst..when they see the garden, they'll know. They'll be able to smell the humans... No time to get Carmen's family. Maybe, they'll hear and come to help." They all moved quickly through the door and into the front yard.

The moon was full and high in the sky, silvering the leaves of trees and the faces of the small group waiting to be attacked beneath its luminescent glow. Shadows at the edge of the forest seemed somehow darker than usual. Watchful eyes strained against the blackness of the deep forest. Speaking in low tones, the anxious group planned their impromptu defense against deadly intruders.

"How you want to work this?" Carlisle asked, deferring to Jasper's superior strategic know how.

"Emmett, Edward, Carlisle and me on front lines with you in center position. We'll form a semicircle around the girls and Little Wolf. Alice, Esme and Rose behind us. Rachel, Bella and the baby in the rear enclosed by our ranks as far as possible. We can't leave them in the house. Fighting vampires is a lot different than fighting humans. The house would be no obstacle if they got around us The only wall that would keep a vampire out is another vampire...or a werewolf," he added to be politically correct. The nomads will have to get past all of us to get to them. If Carmen and Eleazer show with Kate and Tanya, they can take our backs.

His words were clipped. He talked so fast, it was hard for Jake to follow him at times.

Now this is important! I don't want you to phase until I tell you to, Jake. Vampires startle easily. I doubt they've ever seen such a thing as a human transforming into a giant wolf. While they have their attention on you, Emmett and I will flank them and you and Edward and Carlisle will charge forward... the wolves will be coming in behind them at your command, Jake."

"Shock and awe! Sounds like a plan." Emmett agreed, with an unholy light in his eyes at the prospects of a good fight.

"Nobody escapes. That's crucial. If any of them get away, they may run into Jane and Felix at some point and trade info about us to save their own lives. Besides, they would almost certainly return for the blood... maybe catch us completely unaware the next time. Even if they try to surrender, they die...do you hear me?"

"Get out of Edward's way if one runs. He's the fastest. If they get past all of us, it's up to the ladies to protect the girls and the baby. Rose, hand Little Wolf to Bella or Rachel so your hands are free."

"They're here." Alice warned, and before the sound of her words died, three vampires stood in the middle of Emmett's garden...their red eyes glinting in the moonlight. A black male with dreadlocks, a brown haired male who led point like a tracker, and a female with bright red hair. There was a split second of time in which the nomads lifted their heads to taste the air... inhaling deeply, the smell of human blood and their desperate thirst making them insane enough to disregard the simple fact that they were outnumbered.

"Now!" Jasper commanded and Jacob leapt forward phasing on the fly. The three intruders actually took one step backwards at the sight of the giant snarling wolf hurdling across the yard in their direction. Jasper and Edward flew behind him, and the others moved into a flanking formation.

Everyone expected the nomads to turn and run back the way they came, away from the formidable group bearing down on them. And the two males did just that but found themselves trapped by the incoming pack. Caught between two superior forces, they were mercilessly torn limb from limb. It was difficult to tell foe from friend at times during the furious affray and had they all not been familiar with each others scent, accidents would surely have occurred.

But the female did the unexpected. She was faster, much faster than the two males and smarter too. She ran sideways around the outer edge of the charge. In the blink of an eye she was closing in on the rearward group intent on snatching at least one human in her arms before fleeing the scene with her prize. She was furious at the destruction of her coven and half mad with bloodlust.

Bella saw her coming from the side and turned to face her as she approached the group of females where they stood guarding the precious baby in Rachel's arms. Rose had no intention of letting the redhead get anywhere near her baby. She placed her body as a shield in front of the child and the girl holding it as a last line of defense, leaving Alice and Esme to confront the female alone.

With two easy steps Bella moved forward placing herself in front of Rose as a sacrifice of last resort to protect the baby...knowing that if the female vampire somehow got past Alice and Esme, she would be the one taken instead of Rachel and the baby. Rose growled in approval at Bella's willingness to die in order to insure the life of her son.

Edward turned his head having heard Rose's thoughts. He saw Bella step in front of his sister waiting for the onslaught of the redhead.

"Noooo!" he bellowed as he hurled himself at the small group of females near the porch leaving the wolves to snap and snarl over the destroyed males. Jacob was right behind him. The redhead saw them coming and realized that she was outmatched. She half turned to flee.

"Don't let her run!" Jasper shouted as he also joined the new front. "She's fast. I don't think even Edward can catch her," he told them as they watched her ready herself for flight. She would be gone in a blink. He grabbed Bella and started to shove her behind him, but changed his mind.

"Give me your arm, Bella." Edward told her and she reached out to him immediately. "Hold your breath, Jasper," he commanded.

Using his thumb nail, he opened a small cut on the back of Bella's hand. Blood spurted from the torn vessel. The smell of blood bloomed in the air all around them and the redhead, on the verge of flight, turned back irresistibly compelled by the scent. She hadn't fed in so long...

As she gathered her muscles to jump in Bella's direction, Emmett and Jasper flew at her from the side and made quick work of it. When they had finished tearing her apart, Edward held Bella's hand to his mouth and sucked the small trickle of blood away, sealing the tiny wound with a lick and a kiss. Bella smiled up at him, not seeming to mind in the least that a vampire had just been smacking his lips over her blood.

"To the victor belongs the spoils," he smirked down at her wickedly and winked. She rolled her eyes at his antics.

He looked at the tiny scar on the back of her hand for a moment his face growing serious.

"Not the sacrifice you intended, but a sacrifice nonetheless...Try something like that again, and I will paddle your ass, little girl," he threatened.

"Hmmmmmm," she leaned over and purred in his ear. "Sounds interesting."

Standing with an arm around Rachel, Jacob watched them in amazement, his mouth literally hanging open. He should be outraged...furious, but he just felt too damn relieved that the redhead hadn't gotten away and everyone was safe. The attack had happened so suddenly. He was amazed they had had time to put together any kind of an organized defense. Obviously, the Cullens had fought their own kind before.

Edward put an arm around Bella's neck and pulled her to his side as he reached over with a finger to close Jacob's gaping mouth.

"You got something to say to me, Dog?"

"Maybe."

"We all do our part, Jacob, I couldn't let her get away." he told the wolf, as he went to start the fire.

"She would have come back, huh?"

"Or warned the Volturi about our numbers... and the humans... and the pack. I don't think Bella minded losing a few drops of blood to save us all in the long term considering she was planning to give her self to the female to protect Little Wolf. The Volturi is more powerful than you can imagine, Jake. They can't be allowed to know anything more about us than they already know. The element of surprise will mean the difference between life and death. They are already calculating the Alice and Edward variables into their attack plan, so we'll need every edge we can get. Jane must die first. There's a high likelihood that we won't be able to defeat the twins together."

"But she's pregnant!" Jake protested.

"And a few drops of her blood saved herself, our baby and the others," he pointed out to the wolf.

Carmen's family showed up when the last body part had been gathered up and tossed on the blaze. Jasper shook his head while Carlisle told them what had happened. Tonight had been a good rehearsal for what was coming, but he had to figure out a faster way to communicate with the cousins. He smiled as inspiration struck and started singing the refrain of "Matchmaker." Maybe he could get Jake to assign Seth as a permanent house guest of the Denali Coven. If he read the mood right between Seth and Tanya, he didn't think they would be too opposed. Either that or it was time to set up a phone system between the two houses. If only something or somebody could get the vampire and the werewolf into the mooooood for luuuuuve? He chuckled at the thought.

Rose came to Rachel holding out her hands for Little Wolf . He had slept though the whole fracas. Now that it was over, he was awake and quite excited about the midnight yard party. Rose wished she could have kept him in the house away from all the violence, but separation is vulnerability when it came to fighting vampires. She knew that. What if the redhead had smelled him in the house while she was out here fighting... or attacked her while she was alone with him. She couldn't protect him and fight at the same time. And what about that Bella? Then, she thought about the Volturi and shuddered in dread.

After everyone finished congratulating themselves, they all went back into the house to throw a little impromptu middle of the night party. Edward snuggled Bella against him and laughed at the antics of Emmett and Paul as they reenacted the various parts of the battle with hilarious parodies of Emmett and Quil and the other combatants in action. Esme was fixing snacks without even asking . The wolves were always hungry. She and Carlisle and Seth had stopped at every store coming and going to Alaska when they moved the cousins in next door, emptying the shelves of nonperishable foods and snacks. They were set for months as far as food was concerned.

Jake and Rachel were in the kitchen with Bella and Edward. She was frying some venison burgers for the pack.

"Why didn't you hear Quil before Edward heard him, Jake?" she asked him. "Were you asleep? Doesn't wolf telepathy work when you're sleep?"

"Yes, Jake what happened? If I hadn't hear Quil heading in, we would have had no warning at all." Edward added with a smile.

Bella watched in bemusement as Rachel and Jake turned as red as the rare venison on her plate.

Suddenly, all seriousness, Edward told him quietly. "Time to select a Beta, don't you think? For times when you're ...ah...distracted?"

By the time everyone settled back down for the night, it was almost dawn. The humans and the wolves slept in while the vampires went out to enjoy the morning sunshine. Emmett donned a pair of overalls and worked in his garden.

Alice and Jasper started out helping him, but Jasper found a worm and threw it at Alice. Before long both of them were running around up and down the yard trying to put worms on each other.

Rose rocked the sleeping baby and admired the mighty fine sight of Emmett in overalls...shirtless... the muscles of his powerful arms rippling and glittering in the sun. Feeling her regard, he flashed her a big smile and then went on hoeing.

Carlisle and Esme sat side by side on the top step of the porch holding hands contentedly and watching their children play.

Upstairs, Edward lay quietly beside a sleeping Bella and smiled... listening to his family at work and at play, their thoughts like an old familiar many layered, harmonious song to him. He knew these were the halcyon days, and bitter storms would find them soon enough...but they had done well last night...very well indeed.

He remembered Bella's bravery during the battle... standing in front of Rose and Rachel...that fierce light of battle in her eyes...trying to protect Little Wolfe even though she was in the early stages of her own pregnancy. God help him, but she would make a magnificent mother. A magnificent vampire too...no he wasn't nearly ready to think about that just yet...

Thinking of the child inside her, he placed his right hand softly against her lower belly, closed his eyes and dared to dream for a second or two...dreams of a brown-eyed little girl in his arms, a little girl with long brown hair and her mother's quiet courage...dreams of an auburn haired little boy looking up at him with green eyes and calling him...

No...it was too much to dare consider. He felt a aching lump in his throat, and his eyes burned with tears that vampires cannot shed. Would he ever sit on the front porch...with Bella...and watch his child at play? Bitter venom came unbidden into his mouth and he swallowed painfully.

Having been changed at the age of seventeen, so many of life's simple joys had been denied to him. Would it be possible for this mere slip of a girl sleeping peacefully in his arms …..sheltering within her fragile body the seed of his child...would it be remotely possible that she could safely carry and deliver that child without it killing her? She was the only thing he held more dear to him by far than even the innocent babe within her. He could not bear to lose her.

Two emotions battled back and forth in his mind: fear for her safety and love of his unborn child...back and forth and over and over...until he felt he was being torn apart from the horror of losing either one of them. He felt a something wet on his cheek and reaching up he touched it with his finger and examined the phenomenon. It was a single teardrop of blood.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own Edward or Bella or any of the Twilight Saga crew, but I enjoy moving them around on the chessboard of my imagination. No copyright infringement intended. All glory goes to Miss Stephanie.

Author's Notes: Hang on...this will be a long one.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 18

"Oh for the love of all things holy, Bella, you can't take a fawn back to the house. It won't last five minutes."

"Why not? You keep humans there and nobody eats them. I 'm not going to leave that poor baby out here in the middle of nowhere without its mother, which I might point out, you just killed."

"Once again, I did not know the doe had a fawn. I swear to God, I'm never bringing you with me hunting again!"

"You're just afraid of what Emmett will say...you don't want him laughing at you. Well, I don't care. I'm not leaving without that fawn...Look! It's already following me around. I think it's going to follow us right back to the house."

She sat down and took off her shoes.

"Now, what are you doing?"

"I'm making a leash with my shoelaces."

"Somebody will eat that fawn, I tell you...even the wolves eat deer."

"Well, so do I nowadays, but that doesn't mean I'm going to eat Bambi...besides, I've never had a pet, Renee was allergic." She gave him a shy smile. "We really shouldn't argue...it will cause violent weather, won't it?"

"Now you're using Shakespeare to get your way! Blasphemy!"

The spotted fawn nibbled at her sleeve and the flowers in her hair as she tied the makeshift leash around its neck.

"Oh, it's so cute! Just look at those big brown eyes, Edward."

"Cute now," he glowered at her. "but it's almost weened. Give it a few months, and it will be enormous...then what?"

"Cross that bridge when I come to it. Now get the poor thing's mother and let's go."

"Poor thing's mother? Is that what you'll call it when it comes off the grill?"

She sniffed, ignoring his sarcasm and continued to coax the fawn to follow her. She still wore that silly wreath of flowers on her head... if she ever told Emmett that he made it for her, he'd be screwed for life... a long time in his case. A few flowers had fallen from the wreath and were stuck in the back of her long dark hair. The fawn kept dancing around her trying to reach them.

It was impossible to stay angry at her while she wrangled that dancing fawn like some woodland nymph in blue jeans. He wanted to lay her down right here and take her again like he had in their meadow earlier, but he was worried about tiring her out too much now that she was pregnant. God! He still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that she was going to have a baby...his baby. Just thinking about it made him shake with lust. She probably thought he was insatiable...pregnant with his child and...don't go there, he told himself.

Too many unanswered questions...too many tormenting fears. Still, she seemed to be fine so far... sleeping more...eating more... but otherwise healthy. That's what Carlisle, said and he checked her every day.

Oh what the hell... she had her mind made up, and it was getting late.

He smiled at her, shaking his head. "You are so stubborn."

She grinned at him in victory.

Edward hauled the dead doe over his shoulders with a resigned sigh and started out. Bella and Bambi trailed behind. He had to stop several times to wait for them which gave him plenty of time to dread the reception they would have back at the house.

"He'll eat Emmett's garden," he growled with unconcealed irritation. "If Emmett doesn't eat him first."

"I think it's a her not a him, Edward," she said bending over to examine the area of dispute.

"Emmett won't eat her. I won't let him. We'll build a fence or something," she countered and kept leading the deer along.. her bright red shoelaces looped around its neck."

He really shouldn't bring her with him when he hunted, but was loathe to leave her unguarded. He had always thought when vampires hunted, they became too primal, too controlled by blood lust...in short, too dangerous to be around a human, but how his thinking had changed about that.

He would never tell Bella, but lately he had felt a startling compulsion to share his kill with her... feed his pregnant mate and watch her feed...he was appalled at how deeply the notion stirred him. Had Jasper or Emmett felt that same compulsion when they hunted with Alice and Rose? Or Carlisle? Not something his brothers talked about, for sure. She would be utterly repulsed if she knew he had this dark fixation. He could never tell her... although, apparently, the look of him in predatory mode seemed to make her very ….. for lack of a better term...hot... no, amorous...no, hot... it just seemed wrong to use the word "hot" when describing your future wife. All the same, his hunting trips always ended or started the same way just like today.

Edward's perfect memory brought to his mind's eye the way she looked this afternoon after he had made long, slow, lazy love to her. She was sprawled naked on that blue blanket in their meadow... sleeping in the sun... her dark brown hair curling all around her. She slept a lot these days, was the pregnancy made her tire easily? Or him? He was going to have to limit the lovemaking... no more today, but she was always as eager as he was, and it was hard to refuse her... literally hard.

The sun wasn't too hot, but he had insisted on bringing sunscreen so she wouldn't burn that lily white skin. She had asked him to help her with the lotion, Seductress! He smiled remembering where that led. Still, to be on the safe side, he wouldn't let her sleep very long.

To pass the time, he picked up his discarded shirt and buttoned it. Tying the sleeves together, he fashioned a sack of sorts and making a fast sweep around the meadow and the edge of the forest, he gathered a variety of flowers. Dumping them beside her, he went to work. First, he made a garland for her hair out of blue larkspur and yellow buttercups, setting a pink lady slipper at the central peak.

Bella sighed in her sleep and completely missed her coronation, so he continued his handiwork. He gently placed a half necklace of wild lilies around her neck...then flower bracelets, and a white trilium ring for her finger. He inserted flowers between her toes, behind her ears and throughout her long hair. Around each pale and pink breast he placed a circlet of the bluest lupine the color of the light blue veins that ran across her breasts more visible now that she was pregnant. He spent several interesting minutes weaving tiny purple violets into her pubic hair. After placing the final touch, an avalanche lily in her belly button, he sat guarding her sleep as he always did. Sated and relaxed, he lay on his side...matching his breathing to hers and remembered how it felt to sleep.

A bumblebee came droning by to drink from the lady slipper in her hair, and two small yellow butterflies showed some interest in the flowers around her wrist. Settling on the snow white flower in her navel, a deep blue butterfly opened and closed its wings...to Edward's mind, a harbinger of transformation resting on the decorated altar of his desire. Edward watched it unfurl its tongue and sip nectar delicately from the heart of the flower that adorned his mate's womb. The flowers filled the air around him with their sweet fragrance, but sweeter by far than flowers, was the intoxicating scent of his beloved singer.

As he leaned over her inhaling deeply, a million points of shimmering light reflected from his naked chest and danced over her flower covered body. He whispered in her ear, " ' I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violets grow, quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,with sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight.'"

If he lived until the sun exploded, he would never forget the the dreamy look in her eyes as his words woke her up. She glanced down her body and stretched languorously, smiling at his romantic gift of flowers.

_'What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?' _she thought and sighed, reaching her flower covered arms up to him.

The fearless acceptance and unconditional love that she gave to what the whole world deemed a bloodthirsty monster stirred his soul so deeply, that for a moment he was utterly, bewildered...bewitched...lost.

"No angel," he warned her with a growl. "No angel at all."

Despite his good intentions, he fell upon her like a ravening beast. The sounds of their pleasure echoed back from the wall of trees at the edge of the meadow while they climbed the breathtaking heights of aching desire and plummeted over the precipice into ecstatic oblivion. They fell apart breathing hard, their bodies stained with broken and crushed petals and flowers.

"You know your Shakespeare," he chuckled wondering why he was out of breath... technically, he didn't even have to breath..

"Hmmmm," she replied as she picked flower petals off her boobs. "Midsummer Night's Dream...but Edward how did you know I was thinking Titania's line about the angel?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said, 'No angel...no angel at all.'"

"But you said, 'What angel wakes me from my flowery bed.'"

"No, I didn't say it...but I was definitely thinking it. Wasn't it a line she said to Oberon?"

"I heard you say it."

"Maybe...weird...can you hear what I'm thinking now?"

" No...of course not, although, technically, the line was addressed to Bottom...he had an ass's head in that part of the play, if I remember correctly."

"And your point is?" she asked him saucily. She bent to pull the tiny violets from her pubic hair.

"Here, let me help," he said with a devil's grin, and pushed her back to remove the flowers carefully with his teeth. She giggled and wiggled while he growled and made a lengthy effort to find them all. She was still giggling when he rose over her to stare into her happy brown eyes.

"That's the most beautiful sound in the world."

"What?"

"Your laughter."

"Why, what a sweet-talker you are, King Oberon!"

" My sweet Titania..." he murmured against her smiling lips and kissed her breathless, one last lingering time before pulling her to her feet and helping her get dressed... checking, as always, for bruises as he did. There wasn't a mark on her, even though he couldn't remember holding back or being consciously gentle...how could that be? It amazed him.

Most of the flowers were ruined, but she insisted on keeping the crown in her hair. She reached up to touch it several times and blushed despite his agony every time she did.

As they wandered homeward, hand in hand, he marveled once again at how he kept from hurting her when his lust sent him so close to the edge... like it had today in the meadow. Revelation hit him as he looked down at the flowers in her hair. These murderous hands of his that could crush and destroy could also pick a fragile flower without bruising a single petal... or caress his Bella, despite the constant craving for her blood, without hurting her...an epiphany...one of many since they had been together. Slowly, slowly... day by day, she was changing him in subtle and not so subtle ways...and he was changing her too. No longer was she the timid creature who hid in the back of a classroom afraid to look at him or speak to him. She was stronger, more confident in her choices and actions, a kitten who thought herself a lion and maybe something more...

He decided to hunt on the way home. It had only been a week since he last hunted, but the were were hungry mouths to feed. Alice's steaks were long gone, and there was room in the freezer for more venison, so he stopped on the way to kill a deer. He had barely drained the doe before Bella caught sight of a fawn bedded down behind a fallen cedar. Her flower crown got knocked sideways when she crawled into the rhododendron thicket. He saw her struggling backwards with her butt in the air to drag something out in the open. Edward dropped the dead deer and squinted his eyes in confusion and amusement. He moved closer so he could see what she was up to. Ah hell, why lie to himself, the sight of her butt in the air was reason enough to move closer to his Bella... anytime, anywhere. Sitting back on her heels, she turned smiling to show him what she held in her arms.

That's when he knew he was in trouble, but their wedding was only days away and he didn't want to rock the boat so close to the happy day. Oh, who was he kidding? He pretty much gave her everything she wanted anyway.

By Alice's predictions, the day for their wedding would be in two weeks when she had prophesied the weather would be perfect for an outdoor ceremony...which is what Bella wanted. Carlisle was going to perform the ceremony and the dress was going to be an Alice Original. He wondered if the gown would fit in two weeks. He could already see the slight bulge of her baby bump when she turned sideways to coax the fawn in the right direction. Nah! Alice would calculate for that...what was he thinking?

By his estimation, the baby would be born sometime around Christmas and so far she had been doing well. A textbook pregnancy, Carlisle called it, and he checked her every single day. The the only anomaly was her craving for raw meat. Of course, everybody called it rare, but the fact was, the bloodier the steak or venison, the better she liked it. Jacob, the official grill-master for the human element of the family hardly bothered to brown both sides for her anymore.

That was the baby making its demands known... already craving blood, but maybe not hers so much, as long as she kept eating raw meat. He wouldn't be surprised if she started drinking the pure stuff as her pregnancy progressed. He had already caught her soaking her bread in the steak blood on the sides of her plate and eating it with unconscious abandon. The others noticed, but no one said one word especially when they saw the dire warning in his eyes. She would sigh blissfully after eating a rare steak as if it were the finest chocolate.

Her vegetarian diet was a thing of the past, and she hardly touched the vegetables on her plate these days. He made a mental note not to drain his next deer completely, so there would be more blood left in the meat for her.

When they got home, the men were playing touch football on the front lawn. Rose, Alice, Esme and Rachel were seated on the porch steps as spectators and cheerleaders. Edward noticed only a couple of burst balls tossed to the side, so they hadn't been playing very long. Their version of touch football was probably more violent than the landing on Normandy Beach, but so far injuries had healed quickly and football was probably safer for them than Emmett's favorite game of playing war with real pistols.

As soon as Edward and Bella cleared the tree line, the game stopped, all movement stopped,as if it were a movie suddenly set on pause. After a couple of minutes someone evidently hit the play button, and Emmett sauntered over to greet them, the half naked pack and Jasper trailing behind.

"So sweet of you, Little Bella, to bring us a snack," he laughed turning to look at his posse. "Playing football is thirsty work, you know." The posse snorted and laughed behind him.

Bella narrowed her dark eyes at him and straightened her crooked crown of flowers.

"Rose," she summoned without even raising her voice above a normal tone.

In the blink of an eye, Rose handed Little Wolfe to Esme and did her vampire super speedy thing over to Bella. She stood with her back to Emmett and faced Bella. One perfect eyebrow arched as inquiry.

Bella took a deep breath. "Rose, I don't want anybody to eat this fawn. I've never had a pet and the poor thing's mother has met an untimely demise at the hands of your brother here. Do I have your support in this matter?"

Rose turned to look at Emmett and smiled broadly. His eyes flared and he backed up one step bumping into Seth. She looked entirely too happy, and that in itself was cause for concern. Her voice was syrupy sweet as she spoke to Bella while facing her husband.

"Yes, Bella, you have my full support in this matter as I had yours when the nomads attacked us and tried to kill my son. If anyone...anyone at all...tries to eat this deer, I would be very unhappy... for a very, very, very long time."

Emmett's perpetual grin faded as a look of horror swept over his face.

"Uh," he stammered. " I don't think anyone wants to harm a hair on that fawn's body, right boys?"

He turned to look at them, all seriousness in his expression.

No one said a word.

"Right boys?" he asked again making his point clear. Various nods and mumbled affirmative noises rumbled through the group...but no snorting or laughing.

"It needs a fence to keep it out of Esme's flowers and a little house for when it rains," Bella told them.

" You heard her." Emmett ordered, and the posse scattered looking for materials and tools to build said fence and house. Emmett turned back to Rose who was still smiling broadly. She took his arm and pulled him down for a peck on his cheek.

"Thanks, Sweetie," she purred and let him escort her back to the porch where she took her baby from the group of sniggering women. Off he flitted to supervise the project...football game forgotten. The women all sat back down to watch the arrival of leftover fencing from the garden and lumber that had been unused from the cabin construction.

Bella kept the fawn out of the roses while Jake and Edward butchered the deer down by the river.

While they worked, they held a one sided conversation in low tones.

" No! I won't. I'm getting tired of telling you what's on her mind, Jake. It's embarrassing to me and it's not fair to her. Why don't you talk to her, yourself?"

Jake glared at him. He was frustrated and aggravated, irritated, and every kind of ated that he could think of. Ever since the nomad attack, he had slept on the floor by Rachel's bed not trusting his control after he had nearly raped her that night. At first she had insisted he take the bed and let her sleep on the floor, but he was adamant. After that, she quit trying to argue with him about it. He quit pushing her to talk, quit touching her, quit holding her, and taking her cue from him, she treated him politely, but with a cool detachment that mirrored his own.

Edward sighed and continued to skin the doe. After a lengthy silence during which Jake mentally called him several obscene names, questioned his legitimacy, cast aspersions on his mother's virtue and speculated about his sexual orientation, Edward finally spoke again.

"She's a burnt child, Jake. Do you know what that means? The old saying is that a burnt child dreads the fire. All she knows of love or sex is pain and humiliation. That night when the nomads attacked, you should have finished what you started. She was ready and willing then, but you punked out. Don't try to rationalize to me." He pointed the bloody knife to his own temple and smiled serenely. "Remember, I know all, see all...well, almost," he said remembering he couldn't read Bella's mind.

"Now...well, she's embarrassed about how she reacted that night. She thinks you're disgusted with her for...

Oh for the love of all things holy, do I have to draw you a picture? You had your chance and you blew it. I honestly don't know how you're going to fix this because at the heart of the matter is your own fear. Yes, fear...don't argue with me. You're afraid you'll phase while you're... Well, let me give you a little tip. It was the same with me and Bella. You don't think I wasn't petrified I'd drain her the first time we...I don't care if you don't want to hear know what I discovered? If you love the girl, you won't hurt her. Trust me on this. I struggled through the same issues and Bella's still breathing."

"But you can't be sure." Jake stated morosely.

" Nothing's for sure these days, Jake. Anything's possible. Why, a virus could destroy the whole human race in a matter of weeks...so...no...nothing's for sure."

"I don't know how to make this right, she's been mad at me for over two weeks now."

"There's no privacy here. Take her hunting with you," he suggested wryly. "Works for me." He finished pulled the hide down the deer carcass and cut its head off, snapping its front legs as if they were match sticks. "Doesn't work out, you can always bring back a playmate for Bambi."

Jacob flinched.

They lowered the deer and quartered it on the table they had recently left by the river for that purpose. There they washed the meat and cut it into manageable chunks for the freezer.

Bella came over with plastic bags, another knife and a storage tub. They both looked up to see the fawn being held by Alice who was feeding it a bottle of baby formula. The lot and shelter were almost ready for occupancy. Strangely enough, the fawn didn't seem to know it was now living with predators. It showed absolutely no fear of anyone there.

The three of them sliced up the meat in comfortable silence. Bella sliced thick steaks for grilling and set aside scraps for grinding into venison burger.

"You know," she told the two men. "I'm getting tired of venison. We need some more steak." They looked at her strangely.

"Any frozen meat in stores will have spoiled by now," Jake pointed out to her. "No electricity, remember?"

"Yeah, duh... but what about finding a live cow?"

Edward raised his eyebrows and grinned. " I hadn't thought about that... we could do that, I guess."

"And we need fruit trees for Rachel and blueberry bushes and..."

"Hold on," he laughed. Rome wasn't built in a day. Next time we go scavenging, we'll look for cows and blueberry bushes."

"Hens for eggs, and a rooster and baby food, and .."

"I'll talk to Carlisle about it," he promised.

Finishing up, they carried the meat to the freezer. Both Jake and Edward widened their eyes at each other but pretended not to notice when Bella licked some blood from her fingers before closing the freezer door.

Edward wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her to him for a smooch on the cheek. He kept his eyes trained on Jake.

"Go!" he told the wolf.

So, Jake went to look for Rachel.

He found her sitting in the garden weeding and thinning the carrots.

"Want to go for a walk?" he asked her.

She wiped her hands on her jeans so she could sign as she stood up.

_Where? _

"Nowhere special," he told her avoiding her eyes.

They walked along the river bank without touching. Just out of sight of the house, they stopped at Rose's little power plant and sat on an old log near the water's edge.

" Look, Rachel, I know you're mad at me. I can't blame you, really, but I want to explain why I've been...less than affectionate these last couple of weeks. You see, a friend of mine, a member of the pack who left us when his mate died in the plague, well, before all that really...while they were dating...he phased while he was too close to her and his front paw hit her face and neck." He paused realizing how clumsy his little speech was becoming. "Well, she was scarred badly from that, Rachel. He didn't mean to do it.. and it never made the least difference in how much he loved her... that scar on the side of her face...but the fact is he did hurt her, hurt her badly. If they hadn't gotten her to the hospital she would have bled to death."

He turned his gaze from the rushing water to find her watching him closely. She said nothing.

"What I'm saying is that when we are... that is when we … Ah hell, Rachel, I'm afraid I'll phase when we're making love...I feel that same loss of control and the same weird spasms I get just before I phase. Do you understand? I don't know what to do about it. I'd ask Sam, cause he would know...but he's too far away for pack telepathy... I don't even know where he is...I can't even feel him. And the bottom line, is that I would die before I would hurt you. I would live the rest of my life without sex before I would hurt you..."

Her hand came up to caress the line of his strong jaw and settled over his mouth as if to silence him. She began to sign ...and honestly, he hoped...expected her to say something sweet and reassuring to him.

_You are an asshole!_

He was utterly shocked at such profanity coming from her mouth...er hands. For an entire minute, he stared at her in mute shock. She smiled and continued, pleased that she had his full attention.

_We will take it slow for both our sakes...I 'm scared too, Jake. But we will most surely make love when the time is right. You will no longer sleep in that floor, you hear me?_

Jake's mouth fell open because his sweet innocent mate used a graphic gesture for "making love"that it didn't take any knowledge of sign language to understand.

_Let's go. I need to finish the carrots. _She stood up.

"Wait," he yelped in fear. "You can't just say that and walk away. You don't understand the danger here."

She whirled around and signed furiously.

_You don't understand the danger either. You sleep on that floor again, you better keep one eye open._

She scissored two fingers together as if snipping something. Jake blanched to think what.

_I love you Jake. _

He had hoped she cared for him, but to have her say it was like taking a hard punch in the gut. He was all out of arguments and explanations in the face of such perfect honest.

Nodding his head, he whispered, "As I love you." She took his hand and led him back to the garden. The sun was beginning to set in the west when they finished the row of carrots and went inside. At the door, she paused with a thoughtful expression on her face and then turned to him. Suddenly, she punched him hard on the shoulder with her fist.

"Ouch!"

_I thought you took me for a walk to break up with me._ Tears filled her eyes and threatened to overflow.

"Ah baby," he whispered as he pressed his lips to the top of her head and held her close. "Never in a million years would I ever let you go. I'd rather be dead."

With a deep sigh, she brushed her tears away and smiled. They went inside.

Alice was rearranging furniture like a design diva on speed. All the furniture was shoved to one side of the living room and she was moving it into new positions. Jasper sat on the stairs out of the way watching her patiently.

When he saw the mystified look on the faces of Jake and Rachel, Jasper told them, "She's trying to focus on a vision. She tells me distraction sometimes helps her to see more clearly...works better if she's not concentrating too hard...says it's like peripheral vision."

She had almost finished and was moving a painting on one side of the room to the opposite wall, when she froze... her tiny hands held the frame for several seconds.

"Aha!" she shouted triumphantly and took the frame back to the spot where it was to begin with. Every piece of furniture that she had moved was taken back to its original place, and when she had finished, the living room looked exactly as it had this morning. Straightening the last cushion, she marched over to her mate, placed her hands on either side of his face and gave him a loud emphatic smooch on the mouth.

"I have bad news," she crowed. The minute she said it, all of the Cullens appeared. Alice waited until the cousins and wolves were summoned, then she cleared her throat and began.

"Jane and Felix are already in Seattle. I told you Aro would send them, but Demitri is on his way there too. He will arrive in a couple of days He's an excellent tracker and will surely find us. They are coming to spy on us for Aro in about two days.

"About two days, Alice?" Edward lifted his eyebrows at his diminutive sister's lack of precision.

"Well, Jane has been told to make a sudden decision so we won't be expecting them, but I can tell she's leaning towards this Friday. She misses her brother and wants to get her job done here in the states so she can go home. As soon as Dimitri arrives, they'll be after us. I'm almost certain it will be Friday sometime after sunrise. They've killed the rest of the Seattle coven and several nomads since they've been in the area. And they've sent back two more survivors they found when they went through California. Remember, they're not coming to fight us right now...just check us out. Aro still plans a final battle against us in the fall. He just wants an intelligence report...nothing else."

Carlisle locked his hands together behind him and looked at the floor. It was obvious he wanted to pace, but knew it would cause more stress if they saw him as less than calm. He rocked back and forth a little on the balls of his feet.

"I try so hard to think like they think...they're probably thirstier than they've ever been. But, will they resort to animal blood to keep up their strength? I don't know. Have they been sampling the humans they found? Again, I don't know. Without Chelsea's influence, how loyal will they remain to each other and to Aro? Of course, he kept Alec with him in Italy, so Jane will do what she must to keep her twin safe.

There will be no reasoning with them, no converting them to our way of life. Believe me... I tried when I was living with the Volturi many years ago. Something gets broken inside when a man kills his fellow man. I say man because we were all human once. You have to somehow give up your own humanity to kill another human, and these are creatures that have killed hundreds and hundreds of times. I deplore the taking of a life...even Aro's life. Self defense is one thing, but sometimes a preemptive attack _is_ self defense if you know the enemy is coming after you with a superior force later down the road...and I hate to see us come to this, but I think it is unavoidable...we have to kill them if we expect to save ourselves and mankind as well."

Jasper spoke next. "Remember, Aro just wants them to find us, check us out, not engage us in battle. He doesn't want to risk losing a valuable weapon like Jane. The nomads were caught unaware, but Jane, Felix and Dimitri will not. Stealth and surprise will be their modus operandi...so it must be ours as well. When we attack them, Felix will defend Jane, while she incapacitates anyone who threatens him or Dimitri. The question is how many of us can she keep down at a time. We have the superior numbers, but they have her."

We will be the aggressors in this situation...we have to be. They will never expect that. Aro perceives Carlisle … all of us really...to be the ultimate pacifists, but we must kill Jane because when they all come in the fall, we will no longer have the superior numbers and they will have the twins. They can't be allowed to go back to Italy."

"Dimitri will track Carlisle. His ability is not dependent on smell. It's a psychic ability, once he has known someone, he can find them anywhere in the world," Alice explained.

"So...how do we catch and kill all three of them?"Jacob asked.

"A trap?" Edward offered.

"You have to bait a trap," Eleazer pointed out. "They'll be expecting us to know they're coming. They know we have Alice. That means, they'll expect us to try to trap them...here... with Carlisle as bait."

Jacob thought for a minute. "If they expect the trap to be here, let's put it somewhere else...somewhere they won't expect it to be. Will they follow the main roads from Seattle?" he asked Alice.

"No, they'll cut straight through Olympic State Park,"

"Then, we could catch them just as they leave Seattle...just as they enter the park. They'd never expect that, would they? We could leave Carlisle here since Dimitri is tracking him.

"Bait and switch, huh?" I like it, Jasper smiled.

"We can't leave just Carlisle here with Rachel, Bella and the baby? If even one of them gets through or some other nomad wanders in..." Esme worried.

Everyone looked a little surprised when Bella spoke up next.

"I think you should take us with you. No, listen...You still need some kind of bait for the trap in Seattle, and what better than human blood. You need Edward with you to hear what they're thinking and you need Jake as well to coordinate your secret weapon, the pack, besides, Edward and Jake won't leave us here, and you know it. Leave Rose and Carlisle with the baby. If worse comes to worst, they can make a run for it with Little Wolfe."

I'm not leaving my wife and my son here without me, Emmett told them.

"And I know I speak for Jake when I say, we're not using Bella and Rachel for bait," Edward protested.

"Okay. Leave Emmett, Rose and Carlisle here and we'll take the cousins, the pack, Edward, Alice, Jasper and Jake with us. You have to admit we will be safer with all of you than we would be here with so little protection. We would be bait whether we stayed here or fought them in the park. They'll think they've found two survivors and stop to capture us," Bella reasoned.

That's when we can spring the trap," Jasper told them.

" It might work, and frankly, I'd rather have Rachel with me no matter where this happens. Seth can stay here as well, so Carlisle will know if one of them gets around us." Jake volunteered.

For the first time, Tanya entered the brainstorming session. "If you think they will come near the humans smelling their own kind nearby, you are sadly mistaken. They won't fall for it. Maybe the wolves...but I'm not even sure of that."

Edward agreed, "True, but how can we keep the girls safe?"

"Let me tell you how I would build your trap," she smiled. And she did.

Friday sunrise found Jake sitting on a log in front of a camp fire, by the side of the trail down which Alice had predicted Jane and her two companions would come. Sleeping bags lay unrolled beside the cheerful little fire. The smell of coffee drifted around them. On either side of Jake sat Bella and Rachel.

The rest of the group stood anxiously waiting about a mile away from Jake and the girls so their scent wouldn't alert their enemies to the presence of a trap.

Embry stayed with Jasper and Alice and the cousins so Jake could let them know them know the minute the three members of the Volturi guard arrived.

The other wolves had phased and were lurking in the forest around the bait. Their job was to take out Felix and Dimitri or at least hold them until Jasper and the others got there.

Jake was to distract Jane by phasing the same way he distracted the nomads.

Edward had another task altogether which was to hold his breath. He had lain perfectly still in a shallow grave in the middle of the trail for the past two hours. The night before, he and Jake had dug the hiding place for him... carefully camouflaging the spot with moss and debris. They were hoping four feet of dirt would insulate his vampire smell from detection. Jake said he couldn't smell, so he hoped Jane, Felix and Dimitri wouldn't either. Quietly, he lay like a trapdoor spider waiting for his prey. His only way of knowing if Bella was okay was through the thoughts of Jake and Rachel. Holding his breath was no problem, but being unable to hear, see or smell his mate was far more uncomfortable to him than not being able to breathe.

_I can smell them, _Jake thought to the pack and Edward. _They're almost here. The fire was a good idea. I think they smelled the smoke before they smelled the girls and it might help hide any residual vampire scent. They're watching us already .. I can feel it. Three humans together is a suspicious thing,but it's also a powerful temptation. I hope my smell will blend in with the pack's. _

Bella pretended to tend the fire, but she felt goose bumps crawling up and down her arms. Summer birds were waking up in the forest around them; their songs made everything seems so normal. It was hard to believe they were being stalked by bloodthirsty monsters. Harder still to believe that their little group was going to try to murder these monsters.

She knew Seth was waiting for Jake's signal, and the others would come running. Edward said it would take them about a minute to get here. She desperately hoped Jake and Edward and half the pack could hold on for that long. A minute could be a long time when the one you love is in harm's way. She felt eyes on her and her hair lifted from her scalp . Her fingers clenched around the cold smooth metal in her pocket.

The darkness at the bend in the trail parted and three figures moved toward them faster than humans would, but certainly slower than typical vampire speed. She could tell they were leery about rushing in. She stood up. So did Jacob and Rachel.

"Hello!" Jake said in a friendly voice loud enough to carry to them had them been human. They didn't respond or move.

"Have you seen any wolves while you've been on the trail? We saw two yesterday. One followed us for a while." He stepped away from the girls and toward the three vampires. "My name is Jacob Black. You're the first people we've seen since the virus struck. Would you like to share our fire and some rabbit I caught in a snare yesterday?" As he talked he walked closer to the three figures taking the fight away from the girls as much as possible. "Hey, your eyes sure look funny...you wearing contacts or something?" He could tell the three had passed the point where Edward lay. His hiding place was now about two yards directly behind Jane.

Suddenly, Jake squatted into a runner's starting pose and leapt forward at the vampires ...phasing midair as he hurled himself towards them in the form of a huge wolf.

They were so startled by his metamorphosis that none of them moved for a moment, and by then he was upon them. Jake's snarling muzzle was lunging for Jane's throat when suddenly, he dropped to the ground as if someone had shot him...his high pitched yelps and animal cries indicative of horrific pain.

The pack burst from its hiding place and went after Dimitri and Felix. Dimitri tried to run, but Quil caught his leg and despite being kicked repeatedly, the wolf refused to release him. It took the other wolves to overpower Felix. Though he threw them off of him repeatedly, they picked themselves up and went straight back into the melee.

Bella could see Edward's body thrust powerfully upward from his shallow grave behind Jane who was still focused on causing the wolf enough pain to keep him down, but she must have smelled the vampire behind her. She left off torturing Jake and turned in a fury. Edward was almost close enough to reach her.

"Pain!" she said, and his body spasmed violently sending him to his knees. Down he dropped, writhing in white hot, burning pain.

Jane smiled and stepped closer...bending over him. Bella could tell the witch planned to kill him while he was defenseless.

It would take Jacob a minute or two more to recover, and the others were still not there. They would be too late for Edward and Jake. Bella snatched a small paring knife from her right pocket and without hesitation, she sliced her arm crossways. Rich, red blood ran freely from the opened vein down to her wrist and dripped from her fingers. Tossing the knife to Rachel. Bella walked towards the female vampire...her face terrified but determined.

"Kill me!" she shouted at the witch, "Not him!"

Jane's head came around, her nostrils flaring at the irresistible smell of human blood... so thirsty. Her red eyes narrowed on Bella's arm. In an instant, she knew the girl was trying to distract her. If she came any closer, the blood would be too great a temptation and she wouldn't be able to defend herself while she was feeding. She had to stop her. Jane's smile seemed more like an evil grimace as she focused her full power on the blood covered human who steadily advanced in her direction.

"Pain!" she shouted.

Nothing happened.

Dismay erased the vampire's smile. She tried again with the full force of her gift trained upon the girl.

"Suffer!" she screamed now furious at her own impotence and at this weak little human who defied her , controlled her with her own cravings. Why wasn't her gift working?

She had seen it bring the strongest men to their knees...even Aro, himself had tried to endure it and succumbed immediately. Her gift had never failed her and yet, it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on this puny human girl. Now the other girl had opened a vein and was approaching as well... a double enticement...a double threat. How could she kill the two males with such a feast right in front of her?

"Pain." she said and the second girl dropped to her knees screaming. Reassured by the success, Jane turned, concentrating her power on Bella...still... nothing happened. The girl was only a three steps away and the blood was so compelling.. Jane's eyes grew wide with shock and thirst. She had never encountered a creature who was immune to her power. But the blood...she had to have it. She grabbed girl roughly by the shoulders, her teeth bared ready to sink into the soft flesh at her neck.

"I love you, Edward." Bella whispered and closed her eyes.

A sudden violent impact knocked them both sideways. Jane released her bruising grip on Bella's shoulders as they both went flying. It happened so fast. It was Edward. He had heard what Bella intended to be her dying words. He couldn't see her... his vision hadn't cleared enough to see the two females standing in a deadly embrace not three yards from his pain wracked body. Not only was he blind, he was still almost paralyzed by excruciating pain. But he could smell Bella's blood, and he had heard her whispered farewell. Somehow he had willed his legs to move. He had launched his body in the direction of her scent and the sound of her whisper...hitting them both.

Jake also scrambled to his feet having recovered enough by the time they hit the ground to join the fight. Together they jerked Jane backwards away from the bruised and bleeding girl on the ground. Edward held her by the arms while Jake straddled her body, opened his snarling jawsand torn her throat out. It was easy matter for Edward to finish beheading her at that point. It was done and over before the stunned witch had a chance to use her gift on either of them again. No sooner had her decapitated body hit the ground than the rest of the family charged into the clearing eager to finish off Dimitri and Felix. In the end it took two vampires to hold Felix and two wolves to remove the limbs and head from the hulking brute. Dimitri's demise was not so dramatic. Jasper made short work of it. His martial arts training apparent in the ease with which he destroyed the tracker.

Wolves phased, including Jacob, and vampires continued tearing their enemies to pieces and throwing them on the campfire that still burned merrily by the trail untouched by the tremendous struggle all around it.

Neither Edward nor Jake assisted in the cremation of the bodies. They were busy attending to Bella and Rachel. Edward licked the blood from Bella's fingers, hand and arm. A long lick across the wound sealed it immediately. He peeled her shirt from her shoulders smelling the bruises Jane had left with her brutal grip. Amazingly, the bruises were already yellow. They seemed to be healing at an abnormally fast rate. He stared at them stupefied by insane conjectures for so long a time that Bella, twisted her head down trying to look at the bruises herself.

"What is it? Are they that bad? They really hurt a minute ago, but now I can hardly feel them."

He straightened her shirt over them quickly, trying hard not to let his alarm show in his expression.

"I've seen worse," he told her. "You'll have worse before the day is over, that's for sure."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that when we get home, I'm going to paddle your ass...hard...for the stunt you just pulled."

"Just try it, Buster...I'll sick Rose on you."

"Bella, I am so angry at you right now..." His lips compressed as he tried to rein in his fury.

She opened her mouth to defend herself, but the look in his black eyes made her hesitate.

" Smart girl, Threatening me is certainly not advisable right now... that is if you plan to sit down for the next week." His hands were visibly shaking as he buttoned her shirt.

Their eyes met... hers brimming with tears now that the danger was over... his dark with the horrified realization of just how close he had come to losing her...and a new fear now...how did those bruises disappear so quickly? He could tell without looking that they were already gone. He needed to talk to Carlisle as soon as possible before he went completely mad from the wild thoughts and speculations in his mind.

"I thought she was going to kill you," Bella whispered as if it were excuse enough to explain her impetuous actions. "And you gave me idea when you used a little of my blood to stop the nomad from getting away. How was this any different?"

"It was different because I had control of the other situation and ..."

He couldn't talk anymore. He had intended to practice a little tough love, a little love withdrawal to make her sorry for putting her life and the life of their baby on the line today, but when she looked up at him with her eyes full of tears, he couldn't keep himself from her any longer. His arms went around her, and he pulled her tightly against his chest dropping his head against her warm neck listening to the reassuring sound of her pulse, inhaling the scent of her singer's blood that even now lingered on his tongue so sweetly, knowing she was safe and alive instead of lying on the ground with her throat torn out.

He felt her smile against his chest and knew she was thinking his embrace was a capitulation.

"Don't think this means you're not going to have that paddling," he promised, but his smile against the top of her head made his threat seem weak. Peeling her away from him, he led her over to check on Rachel.

Although, Jacob had used the scraps of his torn shirt to clean up the blood, her wound was still bleeding profusely.

Jake glared at Bella when she reached down to pick up the knife she had brought to the fight.

"What? It belongs to Esme. I don't want to break up the set."

"Was this your idea or hers?" he growled. He went back to sopping up blood with his shirt.

Rachel began to sign a retort.

"Oh hell, don't tell me. She would just lie to protect you. I'm not going to be able to stop this until we can get Carlisle to put in a couple of stitches to close it.

Edward watched him try to apply a pressure bandage until they could get her home but she must have been a free bleeder, because blood kept welling through the bandage at an alarming rate. Finally, Jacob looked at Edward in defeat and nodded.

All it took was a couple of licks over the oozing cut to seal it completely, but Edward didn't try to clean up the blood on her arm. It just seemed too intimate a thing to do. Both Jake and Bella were watching, and though Rachel's blood was alright, it could never come close to the delicious flavor of Bella's.

"Thanks...I think." Jake told him.

"No problem," Edward smirked and that was that. He winked at Rachel and smacked his lips just to be a perfect asshole.

Rachel and Bella rolled their eyes, but Jake clenched his jaw grinding his teeth so hard the muscles in his cheeks twitched and flexed.

"Yeah, right...yummy. Now hold still while I clean this up. Might be vampires around, you know."

Edward felt he and Jacob had a right to be angry, but if he had known Bella was going to hide that knife into her pocket, he would have never allowed it. Both of the girls risked their lives to distract the witch, and had he or Edward recovered from her attack a little more slowly, one or both of the girls would have been killed. Of course, Edward would be dead and maybe Jake as well, but that wasn't the point, was it?

A strange thought crossed Edward's mind.

"Why didn't Jane use her power against you?" he asked Bella. Everyone turned to look at her which made her blush for no other reason than she hated to be the center of attention.

"Actually, I think she tried... several times."

"How is that possible?" Jasper demanded.

"I don't think she wanted me to get close because of the blood. I was distracting her from killing Edward. When I didn't just fall over in agony like you guys, it seemed to make her furious."

Eleazer spoke up. "Of course... you're a shield...why didn't I realize it before now. I'm pretty good at identifying the gifts of immortals, but I should have known when they told me Edward couldn't read your thoughts. You are a natural shield...even as a human. You are probably immune to Aro's and Alec's powers as well...could be a useful thing when they come to destroy us all."

"Don't answer it," Alice blurted out in the middle of the conversation.

Suddenly, a familiar noise sounded somewhere nearby. A cell phone was playing 'Volare' an old sixties tune made popular by Bobby Rydell. Heads swiveled searching for the object near the spot where Felix and Dimitri met their deaths. It lay half hidden under a small bush by the side of the trail.

"It's Aro!" Alice told them. "Somehow, he has gotten a geosynchronous satellite receiver working and now has a cell phone system that works."

At first, no one moved. Then Jasper went over and picked it up. Looking at the group, he flexed his fingers crushing the phone easily. Opening his fist, he let the tiny bits of plastic fall to the ground.

"When he doesn't get an answer, he'll suspect what happened," she told them, "but he won't know for sure until they don't come back."

"Can't say much for his taste in music," Paul quipped.

Everyone laughed...probably a little too loudly.

They stood around talking until the fire burned low enough for Edward to scatter the ashes, and then they all headed back through the park for home. They were all reasonably content.

At least they didn't have to worry about fighting both twins in the fall. Of course, the killing of Jane insured the arrival of the Volturi. Aro would never let the assassination of his favorite go unavenged. He would be furious but probably feeling a little vulnerable too and that was a good thing.

But Cullen and Company felt pretty damn invulnerable as they traveled homeward. They had hoped they could survive an all out war with the Volturi, but their hope had been timid and fragile. Now, they felt they stood a fighting chance. It would be a while before Aro knew for sure what had transpired here, and there was no calculating for what he would decide to do when he did find out. Even Alice had to admit that, but for now it was all good. No one was seriously hurt. The bad guys were eliminated and Quil had just announced that once Emmett heard through Seth that everyone was okay, he had gone in search of something to barbeque. It was party time at the Cullen house and all of them were in high spirits.

All except for Edward.

He was unusually quiet all the way home, and not even the pack's hilarity or Bella's teasing could sooth his anxious heart or ease his worried mind.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. I do not own anything Stephanie Meyer created. Just playing with her stuff.

Author's notes: Alright, I admit it. I like the reviews. The more I get, the more time I spend at the laptop writing. Thanks to you loyal ones who always take the time to give me a comment or two. Keep them coming.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 19

She glared at him with murder in her eyes.

She had fallen asleep while they were watching a movie, and Edward had carried her to bed. Unfortunately, as soon as he shut the door and laid her on the bed, she sat up, wide awake. He hadn't gotten in the bed with her...again. Just like the last two nights, he had gotten his book and sat at his desk to read while she slept alone.

Enough was enough. She had ignored for the past two nights because she figured he needed a little time to get over his anger, but three nights? No.

"Okay, just what's your problem? Ever since the fight with Jane, you've acted like I had leprosy or something? Our wedding is next Saturday and if you're going to sulk like this every time you get mad at me, I think we should just call the whole thing off. I'm not spending the rest of eternity with a vampire who pouts and practices love withdrawal to punish me. Yell, curse, throw things around the room, but I can't stand this sulking."

He didn't look up from his book.

"I'm punishing you," he said matter of factly.

She hadn't expected such bald faced honesty.

"For how long?"

"A week."

"No sex for a week... and _I'm_ being punished?"

"You know what they say, 'This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.' You really need your butt spanked for what you did. You put the baby and yourself in danger... and me too considering what I would do if something happened to you. I can't spank you, so..." He spoke without looking at her...his eyes trained on the page he was reading.

She took a minute to reply. She was still caught up in the dark and forbidden image of herself bent over his knee while he spanked her bare behind. Why that stirred her so, she didn't know..but it did. How positively Victorian! It went against everything her mother had ever taught her...but still...

"Edward, think logically here...what would have happened if she managed to kill you first? Don't you think I would be next one on her list. I took the only chance I had to save us all...and I mean all of us. If she had gotten away, would we really stand a chance when Aro comes for us? It was a calculated risk, but it was the only thing that would have distracted her, and it worked. I couldn't overpower her with force or pain, but I did manage to overpower her with the only weakness she had...her thirst... if only for a few seconds...and at what cost? A few ounces of blood, and a bruise or two. Would you rather see your brothers, your parents, the pack, Rachel...Little Wolfe... and me...all destroyed instead?"

He lowered the book and glared at her, his anger evident in his tone and tense body language. Her argument made sense, but that just made him more furious than ever.

"You can't just keep opening a vein every time we do battle with a vampire...you might not be so lucky next time. I'm doing what I feel I must to make sure you don't forget. And as for Saturday, you will walk down that aisle. You promised me and you _will _marry me on Saturday.

"Then, after the baby is born, change me; you won't have to worry so much."

"You know how I feel about that."

"Might I remind you that you were the first person to use my blood to distract a vampire?"

"That was a controlled situation. I was alert and able to defend you... not writhing on the ground incapacitated with extreme pain. Besides, I'm not arguing about it anymore. It's this or a spanking." He turned a page in the book as if he were actually reading.

"Okay."

"Okay?" He lowered the book. She tried not to smile wondering if he knew it was upside down.

"I choose the spanking."

"You're trying to call my bluff...but I'm not bluffing. Where I'm from...corporal punishment for bad little girls was not frowned upon." He picked up his book and pretended to read again...trying to look calm... controlled.

Bella gritted her teeth as a growl rose in her throat.

"I'm not a little girl. I'm the woman you expect to marry on Saturday. You think just because you're so much older than me, it gives you some kind of moral authority over my behavior, don't you? You may be more mature, more experienced than me in many ways, but in all the ways that matter, you're still just a seventeen year old boy inside a seventeen year old body."

She stood up and started taking off her clothes.

"You're wrong. I...what are you doing?"

"Getting ready for bed. I'm going to sleep and you can continue to read your book upside down all night if you wish."

"Since when did you start sleeping completely naked?"

"Since I found out, I'm sleeping with an old man who thinks he can punish me like he would a child. I'm sure, Grandpa, as mature and old as you are, this won't bother your little vow of abstinence in the slightest."

"Bella, put your clothes back on." He rose from his chair, the book forgotten on the desk. A little panic widened his eyes as she took off her shirt and pants and then her lacy bra.

"Hey, if it bothers you, sleep somewhere else... Oh, that's right...you don't sleep...oh well, stand there and look at me all night...I don't mind...I'm just the woman who saved your life albeit with the loss of a little blood...I'm just the woman who is carrying your baby and thought saving you might save that baby as well...I'm just the woman who loves you and wants to marry you this Saturday...I'm just..."

Before she could finish her sentence or kick her way free of her panties that somehow had gotten hung up on her left foot, he was standing before her.

This was Edward in full predator mode. He had never looked more like a vampire than at this moment...the need to dominate and subdue his mate evident in the tightening of his mouth and eyes and the taut stance of his body. His stare was unblinking, and his eyes were black.

She wished they had put some music on before this fight. She had a feeling everyone could hear them.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the rage I feel at this moment, Bella. A mate is more than a wife. My kind are human in many ways, but in this we are different. You will submit to my will when it comes to your safety. The primary role of a vampire male is to keep his mate safe. Promise me now that you will never again deliberately put yourself in harm's way like you did with Jane. Do it now!"

Bella actually shivered as she looked up into a face. His expression held the potential for violence and, and his eyes were dark and threatening. But she knew she couldn't back down now. He had to know that she was his equal when it came to making decisions that affected her own life. If she allowed it, he would control every aspect of her existence, not out of malice, but simply because he was sublimely sure that he knew what was best for her in every situation. In many ways, he still viewed her as a child.

She was opening her mouth to give him hell, when his lips descended and prevented her denial. She struggled briefly, but he pushed her hands behind her, holding them with one hand as he used the other to grasp her chin forcing her mouth open for his plunder. A half hearted sound of protest sounded in her throat, but he ignored it and continued to exert his mastery over her body if not her mind.

His hands were harder than usual as they moved roughly over her body. All too soon, she forgot her reason for resisting him, swept away by the thrilling aspect of an Edward who was slightly out of control. He bent her over his arm and traced a bath of burning kisses down her neck to her breasts. Her eyes closed and she went completely limp with surrender, a tree bending in the powerful wind of his anger... letting him bear her weight entirely knowing he wouldn't let her fall... but he did... releasing her arms, he effortlessly tossed her onto the soft mattress behind them. Shucking his jeans and shirt, in less than a second, he followed her down still intent on showing her the dangers of challenging her mate. Little growls continually rumbled from his throat as he nipped and kissed and sucked his way from her throat to her breasts down to her stomach leaving little purple places on her white, white skin... and finally to the apex of her trembling thighs where he feasted at length. She raised her hands to touch him, but he grabbed them and pushed them above her head, refusing to give her even that small modicum of control. He spread her legs roughly and joined their bodies with a brutal thrust and a visceral grunt of deep satisfaction at the hard penetration of her slick, heated depths. She arched against him greedily...

And then he did the unforgivable...he stopped moving and raised his head.

"Promise me," he snarled down at her.

Her eyes were wide and dazed with lust...she could see his lips moving, but the meaning of his words eluded her.

He started to withdraw from her. This she understood and groaned in protest...so close...so close.

"Promise me." he whispered as his whole manner changed suddenly from demanding to seductive. He breathed his words slowly over her face as he bent his head to lick the hard tip of one pink nipple.

"No," she told him knowing what her refusal would do to him...testing him...wanting to see him on the edge.

In an abrupt movement he withdrew and flipped her over to her stomach. Putting his arm around her waist, he pulled her back and plunged again into her, more deeply this time than before. Her eyes flew open at the abrupt change of positions, but moved back against him deciding she like it... a lot.

"Promise me," he whispered in her ear, with a purring breath that made her toes curl and her inner muscles clench tightly on him. He bit down on the muscle than ran from her shoulder to her neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to make her shudder against him and moan low in her throat. He held still as if deliberating whether to withdraw or not.

"Anything...just don't stop.." she begged.

"Promise me you won't put yourself at risk again."

"I won't...I promise." She pushed encouragingly back against him and tightened on him...hard.

It was his undoing.

"Oh God, Bella..." He held her shoulders, probably too hard, and started moving fiercely against her. He couldn't tell who won this one...she had promised, but he had given in too. He wanted to punish her for the risks she took, but how could he do that when he couldn't resist her...His anger and fear drove him against her relentlessly until all thoughts of punishments and promises fled his mind in the oblivion that followed.

Long after she fell asleep, he lay holding her in his arms and watching the hickeys on her neck and body fade and disappear. He had talked to Carlisle about her new ability to heal, but his father was as mystified about it as he was. Was it the baby? Could his child be changing her in some way, preparing her for the birth to come? The worry was driving him insane...the not knowing. She burrowed closer, restless in her sleep. How he wished he could sleep as well...just for a while...maybe escape the torment of constant worry. But, no matter, he realized he wouldn't go back to the creature he was before he knew her...yes creature, for that's what any being was until he loved. And she was definitely worth the worry and the conflict and the fear and more. She was the only thing that made his existence worthwhile...that much he knew for certain. Despite her headstrong ways, she was here, and safe, and in his arms. The thought rendered him more at ease and he relaxed.

When the bright sun streamed through the window the next morning, it woke her up early.

Yawning, she rolled onto his chest, looked up at him with drowsy, sated eyes and smiled.

"Who won?" she asked. "I don't remember."

Smirking, he reached down and smacked her ass with a his hard hand.

It stung like a bee.

That was the only reply she got.

…...

_This is where you lived before the plague?_

"It's not much, is it? But it's home... or was. It doesn't feel strange coming here like I thought it might. I run by every once in a while when I'm out on patrol to check on the place and to visit my dad...you know...his grave...although I really feel like his spirit lingers here with my mom, sort of. Sounds silly, but these days, I don't discount the supernatural as much as I used to for some reason."

The full moon through the windows of the little house painted the rooms luminescent silver.

_I like it. Cozy. Warm. Better than where I've lived...I once slept under a bridge for several months. Did you plant the flowers by the porch?_

"Nah, my mom planted them before she died. Dad and I always kept them weeded, though. He never really got over losing her... never said much, but I would catch him looking at her picture sometimes and looking kind of lost. He never would let anybody sit in her rocker over there in the corner. Sometimes, I noticed him staring at it instead of the television when he thought I wasn't looking. Spooky, huh? "

_I wish I could have met them._

"Yeah, me too." Jake smiled. "They would have loved you. Do you want any more wine? These roast beef sandwiches are really good with one of Emmett's tomatoes. What about him bringing all those cattle home with him. I tell you vampires can clear pasture faster than any machinery I've ever seen. He even has a milk cow now and laying hens. The fawn is getting fat off the extra milk. Bella drinks a lot of it though. She seems to be living on eggs, raw meat and milk these days."

_She looks good. Pregnancy agrees with her, don't you think"_

"So far, but she has a ways to go. I hope..."

_This is nice, Jake. Glad you brought me here to see your home, _she said to change the subject.

"Well, not much privacy at the Cullen's these days and I wanted to show you where I come from... who I really am."

_I know who you are Jake. _

He made no reply as he reached for the wine bottle.

Jake poured them both another glass of wine and they drank it while he cleared the little kitchen table putting the remains of their picnic supper back in the basket Esme had packed for them. Bless her, she had even thought to pack candles. He had lit them and placed them in various spots through out the kitchen and the living room. Wine, candlelight, and now one more thing to make the picture complete. He stood up and stretched out his hand. She looked at him curiously but took it nonetheless.

"Let's go watch the big screen and make out on the couch."

_Last time I checked, watching television required electricity. _She shook her head at him amused.

"Making out does too, don't you think?" He gave her a wolf's grin

He led her over to the sofa, sat and pulled her down to him, angling his big body so that she could snuggle up against him. Rachel buried her face up under his chin, the side of her face resting on his chest, her ear pressed to his heart listening to its steady beat. She loved that reassuring sound and the dark masculine scent of him. They didn't move or say anything for a long while.

Every now an then he would pick up a curl of her hair absently and wind it several times around his finger releasing it gently and watching it shimmer like gold in the moonlight that streamed though the front windows. It was something he often did as she drifted to sleep at night and it usually calmed her, but not tonight.

Thoughts were buzzing around in her head about why he had really brought her here...the romantic picnic...the wine... the candlelight. Not that she didn't love the snuggling, but that was about all they had done since the battle with the Volturi even though she had slept in his arms every night since the day she had called him an asshole and threatened to snip off his manly parts... which come to think of it might be part of the problem...

"You like this channel?" he murmured lazily. "We can change it if you like."

She raised her right hand so he could see her signing but didn't move her face from its happy place against his chest.

_I like this channel. This is my favorite program although it usually has a little more action._

She could feel his rumbling laugh deep in his chest.

After a while, Jake took her by the shoulders and pushed her back. A bit startled, she watched him push the old water ringed coffee table out and away from the couch so he could slide to one knee on the floor in front of her. Pulling a jeweler's box from his pocket, he took both of her hands in one of his and placed the box in her grasp.

He held her eyes for a burning moment.

"I love you, Rachel Maguire. I'll always love you. I'll never love anyone as much as I love you. I'll love you until I draw my last breath, and if it's possible... and I think it is...I'll love you beyond that and into forever. Will you marry me, Rachel?"

He watched her shocked eyes fill with tears as she struggled to speak the words he wanted to hear.

"Just nod, Baby," he grinned. "The suspense is killing me."

And she did.

Giddy with happiness, he swooped her up in his big arms so high she almost hit the ceiling as he swung her around and around the tiny living room.

It might have been the commotion or the swinging or her excitement, but she fancied she saw the rocking chair in the corner of the living room begin to rock back and forth in a slow, steady fashion and then dismissed it as a silly notion. She was obviously dizzy from the twirling.

She looked down at Jake her face wreathed in smiles and eyes so filled with love, he couldn't bear it. His face grew serious as he lowered her slowly down the front of his body and buried his face between her breasts nuzzling against her breasts as if he couldn't help himself.

"Ah Rachel...Rachel," he moaned as he kissed her nipples through the thin material of her shirt. She clasped her hands in his hair and felt her whole body clench in sudden desire as she arched against him.

She had the vague sensation of movement and then found herself on the bed with his large body above her, around her, sheltering her as he moved his hips almost painfully against her softness. Frantic hands tore at clothes..whose? Hers? His? It didn't matter as they fought to remove the barriers between them. He peppered her face, cheeks, throat with hot kisses and panting breath. His searching mouth finally locked on hers and then he pushed her legs apart and paused looking down at her. He gasped as if he had just run ten miles.

"I don't think I can stop...I'm so sorry." His hard hands gripped her shoulders painfully. He closed his eyes and ground his teeth trying to find some control so that he wouldn't hurt her or scare her half to death. His muscles quivered as if he were about to phase.

He felt her hands on either side of his face and opened his eyes. Looking down through the red haze of his lust, he saw her blue eyes widen in surprise as she arched against him in demand.

That was all it took. He groaned and flexed his strong back... sliding into her in one long relentless thrust, knowing he had hurt her, knowing from her flinch that he was being too rough, going too deep, but unable to halt the force that drove him on and on until he was no longer moving but being moved by that force like a helpless swimmer being carried out to sea by a current too powerful to resist.

To his utter horror, he felt the sudden swelling that locked him deep inside her. Vaguely, he could hear her frightened whimper as she began to fight the strange pleasure/ pain of approaching orgasm and then an astounded guttural groan as he drove her past her fear into a convulsive pleasure that pulled his seed from him in powerful jets that filled her womb to overflowing. Even while her body was still milking the last aching spurts from him, he knew... a son would be the end result of this night's pleasure. Then all thought vanished as he moved outside himself completely.

There passed a time when neither of them were truly conscious, but by slow degrees, their minds returned to awareness. She was aware that he was too heavy; he was aware that he was too heavy.

He wanted to move off her, he really did, but none of his muscles would work. She pushed ineffectively at his shoulders, but was too weak herself to move him. Finally, he managed to roll to his back taking her with him. That was much better. Lulled by the heat radiating from his chest, she drowsed, weightless as a feather, more content and happier than she had ever been in all her eighteen years. Jake slept immediately, or passed out...she couldn't tell which and didn't care. Sprawled over him, smiling and purring like the cat in the cream, she turned her nose into his sweaty chest and breathed his name contentedly.

"Jaaaaake..."

Her eyes popped open when she heard the sound of her own voice for the first time in weeks.

She was almost frightened to try to speak again.

At first she whispered, "Jake... Jake... Jake? Jake?" Then hoarsely, "Jake! Jake! JAKE!" she cried in growing volume.

He stirred under her, his eyes still closed, half asleep, mumbling, "Give me just a minute, baby."

She screamed his name at the top of her lungs. "Jake!"

Startled, he sat up, almost knocking her off her perch, instantly wide awake looking around the room for some kind of threat... finding none, he realized what he had heard and turned his head to find her naked as the days she was born, sitting astride his lap, her broadly grinning face waiting for him to understand what had happened. He looked at her almost as if he didn't dare believe it.

"Jake." she said once more, beaming at him.

"Rachel?"

Her face grew serious, as she clasped his face in both her hands and fell into his eyes.

"I love you, Jacob Black. I'll always love you. I'll never love anyone as much as I love you. I'll love you until I draw my last breath, and if it's possible... and I think it is...I'll love you beyond that and into forever. And yes... I will marry you,?"

His face tightened as if he were suddenly in great pain or fighting back tears. His arms gathered her to his chest shakily as he buried his face in her soft strawberry blonde hair trying not to embarrass himself by crying like a girl. After a minute or two and several deep breaths, he took her shoulders and pulled her away from him grinning at her like he had just been given the best gift in the world.

"What a sweet voice, you have Little Red...about time I got to hear it."

"Little Red?"

"As in Little Red Riding Hood...you know and the Big Bad Wolf?" He looked a little embarrassed.

"Oh," she cleared her throat. It felt kind of strange to talk after so long...almost a little sore but that didn't stop her.

"As in what big teeth you have?"

"That's me..big eyes, big ears, big teeth... big everything... the better to …."

She had to agree considering what she felt under her naked butt at that very moment. Looking down, she grimaced at black smears on her thighs, and his stomach. For a minute she was confused and then remembered that blood looked black in moonlight."

His eyes followed hers and the happy, playful mood of the moment was gone in an instant.

"Oh God! Rachel...I knew I hurt you. Look at all this blood. What can I do... Should I get you to Carlisle or something...this couldn't be right."

"Calm down Jake, I think it's supposed to be like this the first time...I've had worse periods...let me get to the shower."

He picked her up and carried her into the moonlit bathroom he and Charlie had shared all of his life. He let her feet slide to the floor but kept one arm around her as he turned on the water. Pulling her into the dark stall, they let the warm water cascade over their bodies as he shampooed, lathered and rinsed her very thoroughly. She insisted on reciprocity and soon with so much slippery, slathering of soap and skin against skin, they forgot the primary purpose of their task and simply kissed and caressed each other until the water was ice cold. Wrapped in large man sized towels, they ran shrieking from the chill, back to the bed so they could curl up under the blankets.

"Talk to me." Jake commanded as soon as the goose bumps faded and the shivers stopped.

"About what?" She was suddenly shy after having hidden inside her silence for so long.

"About when you want to have the wedding."

"Maybe we could do it this Saturday when Bella and Edward are having theirs...it's not like we have to send out invitations or anything. It would probably save Alice a lot of work to go doubles. What do you think?"

"I don't care as long as it's soon...very soon." He grew quiet for a moment.

"What?" she demanded.

"I don't like to keep things from you, Rachel. I want nothing but honesty between us..do you understand?"

"You're scaring me."

"You're pregnant!"

"Yeah, right. We made love for the first time less than an hour ago and now you say I'm pregnant."

"Do you remember me talking to you about the imprinting phenomenon?"

"Yeah."

"Well, part of that phenomenon is knowing instinctively when conception in an imprinted mate occurs...I don't know how it happens...might be a pheromone thing, maybe I just smell pregnant on a woman...really any woman...I even knew Bella was pregnant before she knew it and I'm not imprinted on her."

"Oh..." Rachel's eyes were directed at him, but they seemed to be looking inward to her own thoughts.

"Oh.." she said again.

With Bella, It could have been a lucky guess, but tonight I knew immediately...we are definitely going to have that wedding soon because despite these unusual and modern times, I don't want our son to be born with out my name attached to his...call it an alpha mind set. We like to mark our property."

"A son?"

"Pretty sure."

"What's Bella's?"

"A girl, I think."

"A girl?"

"Come on Rachel... you're killing me here... are you mad at me about it..because I have to tell you, I'm scared to death."

"Thank you."

"Thank me?"

"For giving me a son...oh I hope he looks like you and doesn't get cursed with my brassy hair."

"I love your hair... ,"

"Oh Jake, let's not let anyone know I can talk until the wedding ceremony this Saturday...won't they all be so surprised?"

"Are you sure, you want to do that?" He thought about what Edward had told him about her life before the plague. "You know if you ever want to talk about what made you stop talking...I'm here."

"Yes," she told him solemnly. "Someday...but not today. Today, I got engaged to the most wonderful man and we made love and I didn't freak and he didn't phase and I got a baby... a baby...a little Jake... imagine that...and ...Oh my God! I didn't even look at my ring."

She looked so adorable chattering on that he had to kiss her...tried to kiss her... but her mouth wouldn't hold still. Suddenly. she jumped from the bed and then remember she was stark naked. She turned to catch Jake leering at her like the wolf he was and then jerked his blanket from him and wrapped it around herself. Off she flew to the living room to find her engagement ring. She found it on the rocking chair, and thought vaguely how strange that was since they hadn't been anywhere near it...but she figured Jake must have given it a toss when he grapped her. and ran back to the bedroom. Hopping on the bed, she took a moment to inspect her naked finance and almost forgot the purpose of her mission to the living room. God! He was magnificent... all that bronze skin and muscle definition. Almost no body hair to impede her inspection of his long, hard, potent and now twitching equipment. But first things first.

She grabbed the sheet and covered up the temptation although it still moved invitingly under the thin material which was a phenomenon that made her eyes go wide.

No! The ring!

Opening the box, she found a set of yellow gold wedding bands and a diamond engagement ring set in bright yellow gold.

"They were my dad and mom's rings," he told her in a quiet voice. I could have gotten you the biggest diamond in Forks or Seattle even. The stores are sitting there with no one to care if the merchandise is taken or not. Money is defunct anyway...no one to spend it or want it. Somehow, I thought you might like something more personal."

"They're beautiful," she breathed reverently.

Jake took the engagement ring from the box and slid it onto her finger.

"It's perfect...I love it, Jake!"

She held it up to catch the moonlight steaming through the window. and threw her arms around his neck to give him a kiss. One wasn't enough or another, but before they got too carried away, Jake pulled away and sat on the side of the bed.

"Aren't you sore, Rachel. Let's give it a few days before we..."

"A few days?" Her voice held disappointment. She rose on her knees behind him and flattened her naked breasts against the muscles of his 108 degree back, looping her arms around his neck and murmuring in total confidence of her feminine power. She could feel his muscles shiver and flex as she slowly smoothed her soft front across his shoulder blades.

"You'll be sore." he promised half turning to her.

"I'll be sore." she agreed, but that didn't stop them and it was close to midnight when they pulled the door to Charlie's little house shut and headed home.

"You sure, you want to keep it a secret? It's three long days until Saturday. Edward will know...I bet Alice will too."

"Yeah, but they won't tell, and think how much fun it will be for everyone else when I say my vows out loud. I'll have to talk to Alice about a dress and flowers, and we'll have to go shopping for something nice for you to wear . Who will be your best man. I think maybe Bella and I can be each others maid of honor. I love my ring. You do have the wedding bands in your pocket, don't you? It would be cool if you and Edward could be each others best man so everything would look even. Do you think the Cullens have a camera to take pictures. I'm going to have Rose do my hair... up or down...I'll ask Bella.."

The smirk on Jake's face brought her monologue to an end.

"What?" she asked sharply..."There's a lot to do between now and Saturday."

"I was just wondering why I ever wanted you to start talking..."

She smacked him hard on the shoulder as she attached the picnic basket to the back of his motorcycle and climbed on. He disdained the helmet giving it to her to wear. Gunning the motor, he turned to give her a wolfish grin as she wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly all the way back home.

Everyone was waiting on the porch for them when they roared into the driveway.

Alice...of course!

Jacob waited for Rachel to climb off and then dismounted with easy grace. In front of the quietly waiting group, he pulled a suddenly shy Rachel into his arms. Burying her red face in his chest, she raised her hand straight up in the air to show her engagement ring. Immediately, Cullens and the pack burst into enthusiastic cheers and applause.

They were torn apart and the men subdued Jacob carrying him ceremoniously to the river where they tossed him into the cold water to express their congratulations and happiness about his impending nuptials. They kept him floundering in the cold water while they made lewd suggestions about his about his soon to be status of a married man.

The women passed Rachel around for hugs and kisses chattering nonstop about the wedding. Alice summoned them to an upstairs room to show them not one but two wedding dresses she had emancipated from an upscale store in Seattle earlier this week. She also had a tux for each of the grooms.

…...

It was raining lightly when the sun rose on Saturday, the day Alice predicted they would have perfect weather.

Everyone stared accusingly at her when she sashayed down the stairs early that morning.

She struck a pose on the third step from the bottom and gave them all a wounded look. "Trust me," she said looking down her nose at them, something the diminutive vampire could only do from the stairs.

The ceremony was to commence at noon. All morning long the men labored in the rain under Alice's command...hauling a beautiful white wooden arch from a wedding shop in Forks and gathering flowers from yards all over town to please their little general.

She wove the blossoms into the stolen arch so thickly that the wood was no longer visible. When she had finished, the arch seemed to be constructed entirely of flowers. All the while, the rain fell steadily down.

Rose was in charge of getting the brides ready. Esme baked the cake and the Denali cousins confiscated chairs from the local high school along with several tarps and a rolled up red carpet from the local church..

At exactly, eleven thirty, the rain stopped as if a higher power just simply turned off a spigot. The gray clouds rolled on to the eastern horizon unveiling a brilliant sun. Tarps were spread , chairs were placed, and the red carpet was rolled out in a pathway between the chairs up to the arch...all done at vampire speed.

Carlisle and the grooms made ready as Rose started playing the wedding march on the piano pulled out onto the porch just for the occasion. Tiny bright lights from the faces of almost a dozen vampires sitting in the sun danced and swirled and bounced over everything and everyone like pixie dust.

Out the front door came the two slightly pregnant brides wearing identical, ankle length white gowns. The diaphanous material of their gowns was covered in lace and tiny pearls set in sequins. Instead of veils, coronets of white roses adorned their long, unbound hair with long streamers of tiny white satin ribbons falling down their backs almost to their waists.

They carried bridal bouquets of white roses as well.

Both of them were barefoot and their toenails were painted crimson.

Each wore a delicate sapphire anklet on her right foot. Something blue.

Bella's anklet had a diamond cut in the shape of a heart dangling from one side and Rachel's anklet had a tiny wooden wolf Jake had carved several years ago. Something old.

Bella wore a pink silk ribbon around her slender waist; Rachel wore a baby blue ribbon around hers. The ribbons were borrowed from Alice and announced the genders of the babies nestled in each girl's womb.

The brides held each others hand as they started down the aisle. But before they had gone two steps down the red carpeted aisle, a brilliant rainbow appeared above them, stretching itself into a perfect arch of vibrant colors. It seemed so close to the group gathered there, several onlookers, reach up as if to touch it...half expected to see the proverbial pot of gold where both sides of the wash of colors fell just to the right and left of the wedding assembly. From end to end it encompassed the wedding party and most of the large front yard providing a magical canopy of translucent colors for the occasion. Edward and Jacob watched their brides march under the multicolored arch and smiled broadly at Alice's special effects.

The brides hugged each other at the end of the red carpet and then stepped to the sides of their grooms. Edward nodded at Jake and both men bent their brides over their arms and kissed them long and passionately to the cheers and hoots of the audience. By the time they released them, the girls were breathless, flustered and blushing ferociously. To everyone's amusement, Alice darted up to straighten their coronets which had slipped sideways on their heads.

Calisle, cleared his throat, obviously, a little flustered, and started. When it came time for Rachel to speak her vows, everyone expected her to sign them, but to their surprise, she smiled up at Jake and spoke them in a clear, confident voice.

This stopped the whole ceremony again while Bella dropped her bouquet and hugged Rachel...then Edward hugged her as well...then Carlisle and before it was over, everyone there had jumped up to hug the furiously blushing girl. Finally, Carlisle called for order and everyone returned to their seats so he could finish the ceremony.

Before he gave permission for Jake and Edward to kiss their brides...again. He took a minute to speak of rainbows and promises... new covenants and new hope for the future. He spoke of the wedding as more than just the marriage of Edward and Bella or Jacob and Rachel, but rather as a marriage of families...werewolf and vampire and human. This was a small but joyful second chance, he told them. Even though storm clouds still lingered darkly on the horizon, today was a new beginning in a lonely world full of corpses and bloodthirsty vampires, but it was enough to light a small candle of hope in the hearts of the diverse but united group gathered there to witness the covenant of these unlikely lovers and families under a brilliant rainbow of promise.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: All this stuff belongs to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended. Just moving her chess pieces around on a board of my imagination.

Author's Note: OOOOPS! So sorry about the misuse of Charlie's name in the last chapter when I meant to say Billy for Jacob's dad. I look for grammatical mistakes so intently when I proofread, it's sometimes hard to see the more obvious screw ups. Thanks to the reader who pointed that out for me. You put it so gently, it almost didn't embarrass me. Wish I had a Beta. Well, here's chapter 20... to all you folks who keep reading... thanks so much.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 20

"Bella, I want some of your blood," Carlisle said from the kitchen door.

"Okay..."

"I guess that always sounds kind of strange coming from me, huh?"

"Yeah, it sort of does," she giggled. "Just give a minute to wash my hands. Rachel would you mind putting these containers of corn in the freezer?

"I need blood from you too, Rachel as soon as I'm finished with Bella."

She smiled and nodded at him.

He turned to his daughter-in-law.

"Take a walk with me first."

Sure, Carlisle. Is anything wrong? I thought Edward was just here in the living room Do you know where he is?

"Edward's gone hunting. He's fine. I just want to talk to you. Is that okay? "

"No problem." Bella tried to sound unconcerned, but she knew something serious was on the good doctor's mind. He didn't routinely ask anyone but Esme to go walking with him.

As soon as they got to the door, Carlisle offered Bella his arm with such old fashioned manners. She smiled up at him completely charmed and tucked her hand around his elbow. They walked sedately across the lawn down to Emmett's garden and beyond.

Where had the summer gone? It was already August, and everyone had worked hard to can or freeze as much of produce as they could. No one dared say it or hope it, but if they prevailed against Aro in September, they might be able to rescue his captives, and they would need the extra food for the winter. Of course, there were plenty of canned vegetables to be had for the taking...in homes and stores around Forks, but frozen vegetables, especially corn was always better.

Bella worked harder than anyone to preserve the food. She had learned to can and freeze food as soon as she was tall enough to reach the sink and the stove. It was always a comfort to have extra food around...probably the result of living with her mother who, bless her, wasn't always the best manager of money. Everyone fussed at her for working, always trying make her to rest. But she seemed to have boundless energy these days. Other than her constant appetite for rare meat...rare meaning practically raw, and her body's new ability to heal itself almost instantly, she was as healthy as the proverbial horse. She was beginning to show a bit, and the baby was moving now. Carlisle had been fussing over her and Rachel all summer...testing this, checking that. She felt like a glorified guinea pig sometimes.

Despite how well she was doing, Edward worried.. He guarded her like a mother hen...didn't want her to work at all. If it was left up to him, he would carry her around all day so she wouldn't even have to walk. They fought about it all the time, but other than physically restraining her, there was nothing he could do but fret and try to anticipate every move she made. If she so much as licked her lips, he was running to get her a glass of water. If she yawned twice, it was bedtime. He would only make love to her twice a day for fear of tiring her out too much. He wouldn't let her carry anything heavier than a plate of food. Alice told her this was typical behavior for newly mated vampire males and the pregnancy just intensified it.

Bella and Carlisle walked past the garden and down to the river where he seated her beside him on a big smooth rock. It was cool in the shade, and the sound of the water was soothing. For a while he said nothing, but she knew he would get around to it when he was ready. It was an easy, comfortable silence.

"Have I told you lately how happy I am to have you as my daughter?"

"Well, yes, Carlisle. You've told me that just about every day since the wedding."

"It's so good to see my son happy. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever find someone."

"He makes me very happy too," she told him blushing, as she considered how the first months of the summer had passed so quickly in a blissful daze.

" Well, I almost ruined that. I want to apologize again for trying to impose my wishes on you when you first came to us. I know we got off to a bad start when I tried to play matchmaker with you and Jake..."

" Yeah, that sort of pissed me off, and it made Edward furious...he's kind of territorial where I'm concerned...but...hey, water under the bridge. You had noble intentions. I know you were worried that Edward would... kill me."

"Didn't you worry he would...?"

" Weird as it sounds, no...in fact he has sampled my blood several times over the last few months...I'm always stumbling around and getting cuts or scrapes... of course these days, cuts and bruises heal so fast...I guess you noticed."

"That business with Jane wasn't just an accident."

" Well, no...but did you know I used to faint at the smell of blood? Most people can't even smell blood that much. But the smell of blood was one of the reasons I became a vegetarian. I couldn't deal with someone even putting a rare steak in front of me. I fainted in class one day when we were doing blood typing."

"I believe Edward skipped school on those days."

"I would think so. Carlisle, have you figured out yet why I heal so fast these days? It spooks me a little."

"I'm still trying to figure that one out... You know, Bella, I'm your father-in-law, so I shouldn't really be your doctor. We're not supposed to treat our own family members. Our affections make us less than objective. But as I'm the only doctor in town, I have no choice...not that I mind...I'm just saying such a situation causes conflicts of interest that can be ethically questionable. I'm supposed to keep anything you tell me in the strictest confidence, but..."

"That's okay, Carlisle. I understand that anything I say to you could get back to Edward. You can't help that. I don't keep secrets from Edward anyway. He is my husband, you know."

.

"Well, I have two theories about the rapid healing. One is that the trace amounts of venom in Edward's saliva and...er...other body fluids may be having a beneficial effect on your ability to heal. The other theory is that the fetus is causing this change in your body."

" Up to now, I've only been able to do the most rudimentary tests on your blood, but now that I have more equipment, I want to check some other things. I've been puttering around at the hospital lately, cleaning it up on the off chance that... the hope really... that we'll need it soon...trying to salvage what equipment I can. I've brought some of the equipment here and we've been putting together a small infirmary in the basement of the house. I know you've seen us working on it."

"Yes...that's great...especially if we are able to save some of the people Aro has taken, you know?"

"And for you and Rachel when the time comes. I want to run some more tests on you, if that's okay...starting with another complete blood workup, now that I have more equipment."

"Do you have any other theories about what's happening to me?"

"Well, you're pregnant," he grinned.

"That I am," she quipped happily.

"I've noticed how much meat you've been eating...you were a vegetarian when you first came to us."

"Yes, I had a grandfather who died of a heart attack...a widow maker, they said. The main artery to his heart was clogged with plaque. I decided with that kind of family history, I would be wise to stay away from red meat. It was easier just to go total vegetarian. So it was more a choice for health rather than a moral issue with me... and the smell of blood was a problem like I told you.. but, I actually come from a long line of meat eaters."

"Do you know why your tastes have changed?"

"I thought it was a craving, you know, because of the baby."

"Well, I've noticed you like it best rare."

"Yeah, it grosses Rachel out, but that's how I like it. Why? Is that unhealthy for the baby?"

"No... rare meat may be the very thing your baby needs...do you understand what I mean by that?"

"Sure, Carlisle, I'm not an idiot. I'm carrying a half vampire baby. I realize it probably craves blood. What are you really trying to tell me? Quit dancing around the subject, just tell me."

"Edward tells me that lately, after you're full, you sometimes just chew pieces of the meat and then spit them out in your napkin."

"Ah, there it is..."

"Bella...I don't mean to upset you, but are you doing that to get the blood out of the meat?"

"Busted." She looked away from him just a little embarrassed...which was ridiculous really. He was a vampire, for heaven's sake.

"Don't be embarrassed. Pregnant women have stranger cravings than that...but you have to consider that this craving for blood is what has kept you and the fetus healthy so far. I've never...ever heard of a human being impregnated by a vampire. and I've lived a long time. Usually, such a union ends with the female's death by exsanguination. So these are uncharted waters.

Maybe the baby does need the blood, and as long as you supply it in your diet, it won't absorb so much of yours in order to develop normally. Usually, blood is digested if it is eaten, so this really doesn't make scientific sense to me...but we 're talking about a half vampire fetus, and maybe the laws of science don't apply. I've considered that the fetus is taking more than just nutrients from the placenta... maybe some blood as well... and the blood you consume helps to replenish it quickly. I also wonder if the blood exchange going on through the placenta in this pregnancy might be why you heal so fast. All of your cells, not just your blood cells, seem to reproduce rapidly when you are injured, and they reproduce perfectly too, I might add. So, what you are eating seems to be agreeing with you and the baby. All of your vitals and the baby's too seem strong. You're both quite healthy at this point."

"So you think I should eat more meat?"

He looked at her meaningfully for a moment.

"I don't think you should eat more meat, Bella..." his voice trailed off as if he was reluctant to complete his thought.

Bella turned a little pale as comprehension dawned.

"You're trying to tell me I should...drink... blood?"

"Somehow...and this is just an educated guess, mind you...somehow the baby has been able to absorb enough blood to sustain it these several months, but as the pregnancy progresses, it is my professional opinion that it will need more blood. Ideally, we would be able to find human blood for you to drink from a blood bank, of course, but because of the failure of the infrastructure and the current dearth of human beings on this planet, we will have to substitute animal blood. Had you not satisfied your cravings for rare meat so early in the pregnancy, things may have gone all wrong...the fetus might have started taking too much of your blood as it experienced starvation in the early weeks of gestation. It might have died or taken so much of your blood that you might have died...who knows what could have happened."

"So, if I had stayed on a vegetarian diet...?"

Counter-intuitive as it seems, I believe the fetus would have experienced starvation at first, and then accelerated growth after it found a way to take your blood... kind of like a flower sometimes blooms when it is about to die. Have you ever heard of dieters who lose weight and then gain the weight back very quickly because of a starvation metabolism reaction?"

"Yeah, when my mom gained a little weight, she would go on a crash diet to lose the pounds, but in no time, she would gain it back and sometimes end up weighing a little more than she did before she started fasting. So, could that still happen?"

"I don't want that to happen."

"Me either...so what do you think we should do?"

He drew a deep breath. "I think...that you should seriously consider drinking a little animal blood each day...the fresher the better...start slowly...see how it makes you feel...go with your instincts. They've led you in the right direction so far. I also think you should eat a balanced diet. That baby is half human, remember."

"How should I go about it? Should I just go hunting with Edward and drink from the animal...I have to tell you Carlisle, I don't think I can do that...maybe if Edward ever turns me...but right now the idea of actually killing a deer...it's just not going to happen. I can skin them, butcher them and cook and eat them, but kill them...sorry, I'm just like all the other hypocrites who eat steak and criticize hunters who kill a deer every now and then. I like the killing to be done for me...call it cultural conditioning... call me a coward...I don't care...besides Edward wouldn't allow it...I might get hurt or something...You've seen how he hovers."

"Oh no! I'm sure we can work something out...besides it would never be safe for you to hunt with Edward...vampires are very instinctive and dangerous when they hunt... he could turn on you."

She laughed.

"Actually, I've been hunting with him already...I mean, I didn't hunt, but I watched. What did you think we've been doing when we bring back venison for everybody to eat? "

Carlisle looked horrified.

"What? I just assumed he left you somewhere while he hunted...How did he keep from killing you? Vampires instinctively guard their kill. I hunt with Esme, but even so, we always go our separate ways...My God! He allowed it? Surely, he realized the danger...no...no you should definitely not go hunting with Edward."

"But..."

"No! It would just be too dangerous. We'll get him to bring some blood back from one his hunts. We'll freeze it."

"What will the pack think of me drinking blood? Jake will say something, and tick Edward off. Emmett will tease me about it unmercifully." She sounded a little apprehensive.

"Bella, when the pack hunts in wolf form, they eat the animals they take down... they don't stop to cook them. You've only seen them eat while they were in human form. Their metabolism requires them to consume enormous amounts of food when they're phased and when they're human. They burn the calories at a phenomenal rate with their temperatures at a constant 108 degrees. Phasing itself probably requires thousands of calories. Don't be embarrassed about drinking blood in front of them... in their time they have disrespected us for drinking blood, but they drink animal blood almost as frequently as we do. You might be more comfortable if Edward just brought you a glass at bedtime in your room...what do you think about that?"

"Yeah, that would probably be best. Although I hate to hide like it's something shameful." She had to swallow before she could speak...funny how the thought of a glass of blood had her salivating enough to drown herself.

"Well, let's get back to the house and get some of _your _ blood drawn for my tests, okay?"

"Edward asked you to talk to me, didn't he?"

"Yes, Bella, he did."

"He's bringing me blood back from his hunt today, isn't he?"

"That's the plan."

"Carlisle?"

She turned to him and hugged him hard closing her eyes tightly to contain tears that threatened.

"Thank you," she whispered into his silent chest. His gentle compassion and steady support made her miss Charlie so much.

He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head gently.

"You are so very welcome," he told her.

She released him, and they walked back to the house holding hands. Before they got across the yard, they met Edward coming in from the hunt carrying a small red cooler. He met them at the porch steps, his golden eyes noted their clasped hands, and he nodded at Carlisle. Smiling he switched the cooler to his left hand and pulled Bella under his right arm kissing her upturned cheek in greeting.

"I'll just put this in the freezer," he told them. "Be right down."

Carlisle seemed a little uncertain about Edward watching him draw Bella's blood.

"But..."

"Don't worry about it, Carlisle," she told him, and they headed downstairs and into the lab.

"I want to do a cheek swab too I'm going to try some DNA testing."

"Okay."

Taking the swab her offered, she ran it around the the inside of her cheek a few times, and handed it back to him.

Edward joined them while his father prepared her arm. Bella smiled up at Edward keeping her eyes on him for distraction... and what a handsome distraction he was. Sometimes she wished he knew just how deeply she loved him... just how completely she belonged to him. When they were done here, she wished he would take her to their meadow for an afternoon of doing nothing more strenuous than making love and lolling about on a blanket in the sun.

"I'm going to take some extra each week when I draw blood for my tests,"Carlisle told her picking up a second empty vial and pulling more blood."

"Why?" Bella asked him.

"Because we don't have any human blood on hand. I wish we had thought to get the blood supply at the hospital before the generator failed, but there were more important priorities and, honestly, I didn't think we would need it. Now, it's ruined. I'm going to freeze your extra blood in case we need it when you deliver. I'm doing the same for Rachel. Neither of you will miss an extra vial each week, but if there are complications, it may come in handy."

"Good idea!" Edward told him without looking at his father. He and Bella hadn't taken their eyes off each other during the entire process.

Carlisle chuckled softly at their single mindedness.

"That's it, then. All finished. You two kids can go play, now," Carlisle dismissed them as he headed to the freezer.

Smiling, Edward flung his giggling mate onto his back and flew up the basement steps. Pausing for a moment at a downstairs closet, he grabbed an old blanket. He stopped at the door as if he had heard something important, turned back to the kitchen and grabbed a tote bag from the counter. Then, they were gone...out the door... into the green, green forest.

"Where we going?" Bella whispered against his cool neck.

He turned his head to her, that crooked grin she loved so well making her heart skip a beat.

"We going to our meadow to play," he told her.

"I swear, sometimes I think you can read my mind, husband."

"Doesn't take a mind reader where you're concerned. There's usually only one thing on your mind these days, wife."

"What's that?" she teased pressing her so sensitive breasts tightly into his back muscles.

"The same thing that's on mine," he growled and moved even faster.

…...

"'A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, ( a piece of bloody steak) and thou beside me singing in the wilderness."

"Omar Khayyam?" Bella said as she swallowed the last piece of leftover steak Alice had packed for her. She licked the pink juice from her fingers. Edward poured her a glass of cider and handed her a slice of homemade bread. For someone who didn't eat food himself, he sure like to feed her.

"I don't recall Omar writing the part about the bloody steak, though," she snickered.

"The tent maker himself...though his father might have been the actual tent maker. Omar was the scholar, the poet, the mathematician. Did you know he measured the length of a year as 365.24219858156 days back in the 11th Century? Course we know it's really a big longer today...closer to 365.242190 days,actually. The years are getting longer as every generation goes by."

"How do you know all this?"

"I've had a lot of time to read over the last century. Remember, I don't sleep. Alas, I've hardly opened a book lately...you make so many demands on my time at night. It's exhausting." Edward yawned, feigning fatigue, and lay back on the blanket.

"Well, don't worry," she said with all seriousness as she swallowed the last sip of her cider and put the glass back into the tote bag. "You're going to have lots of time to read in the future."

He sat up quickly, alarmed at her words.

"What do you mean?"

"Carlisle told me today that we shouldn't...you know...make love anymore until after the baby's born in December. That's almost four months."

"I see," Edward said trying to keep the panic out of his voice, but the grim set of his face reflected extreme pain.

"Gotcha!" she chortled, launching herself into his arms.

"You little..." He grabbed his hysterically laughing wife and wrestled her down to the blanket where he proceeded to tickle her until she could hardly breathe.

"You should have seen the look on your face," she gasped as he flipped her onto her back and loomed over her ready to punish her more for her trick.

Suddenly, he stilled... looking down at her smiling face.

"Can you even begin to know how much I love you?"

"Almost as much as I love you, I suspect."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."

She giggled. What a silly mood she was in today.

"I love you mostest."

"Mostestest," he topped her double superlative with a triple superlative which sent her into new gales of laughter.

"I wish I could feed you my own blood," he told her quietly. "I wish I had blood to feed you."

She quit laughing. He was deadly serious, she realized and his statement, as strange as it sounded, touched her deeply.

"Where did that come from?" she wanted to know sitting up and staring at him.

"I don't know...weird, huh? It's just that I take such pleasure from the small sips of your blood that I've had...I wish you could know how that feels. When I'm hunting, you can't know the dark thoughts I have of bringing my kills home to you...so you can feed. Is it because you're pregnant? Maybe, it's some kind of vampire instinct. I don't know. I've never felt that way before. I think it must be a sick fantasy...none of the others have ever mentioned sharing kills with their mates... and you've fed me your blood, so I want to feed you. It feels backwards to me. Remember the night we first made love? I marked you...I drank some of your blood while I...well...I wish I could give you that pleasure too. Bringing the deer blood back for you today was an almost erotic experience for me...crazy, huh? I treat it casually, but every single drop of your blood is a moment in paradise for me. I wish you could feel that. It's almost as good as sex."

"I find that hard to believe...what could possibly be almost as good as sex with me?" She joked. Then seeing he was serious, she added, " I would drink your blood, Edward...if I could. I would crawl inside you and live in your skin. I think somehow eons ago, maybe we were one person, not two."

He smiled uneasily...shyly even.

"Want me to show you how we looked all those eons ago, when we were one person?" He had embarrassed himself a little with his confession and tried to lighten the mood. "Come here, my other half," he growled, "...my other two legs, my other two arms, my other boobs...Hey, these don't feel like my boobs..."

"She laughed at his outrageous words, but went eagerly back into his arms.

Tenderly, he kissed her...feeling the last vibrations of laughter ripple through her chest and tasting the sweetness of happiness on her mouth.

"My heart...my soul," he added more seriously.

"God, Bella...he whispered against her throat. You smell so good to me. I could lay here forever and do nothing more than breathe the air around you. The pregnancy has made you smell even better."

"You don't smell so bad, yourself," she murmured, and he chuckled at her back handed compliment. "I love to hear you laugh too," she told him. "You don't laugh enough. I wish you didn't worry so much about me."

He raised his head to look into her anxious eyes.

"If something happens to you... the baby...I almost resent it sometimes for the danger it poses to you." he confessed in a quiet voice so full of shame, it made Bella's heart ache for him.

"Shhhhh..."She put her hand over his mouth and then placed it on her stomach.

"Can you feel her?"

He nodded solemnly, "I can hear her heartbeat, you know...she's warm blooded." He sat up and put both hands on her slightly swollen abdomen.

"She likes the sound of your voice already."

"She moves," he murmured, his eyes fixed with wonder as he gazed inward at things invisible to Bella. "I keep trying to hear her thoughts. Nothing coherent...just happy and warm...content to be where she is deep inside you..."

He leered at Bella trying to hide his fear. "I know _that_ feeling," he said softly.

"Wicked."

"Yes, I feel wicked when I look at you... so beautiful carrying my baby...something I never dared even dream of... and I feel such paternal pride...so amazed that we're joined in this way...truly combined and made one by her unbelievable existence...and then..." his face fell. He looked away.

Bella turned his face back to her.

"And then?"

"And then, I hate myself for feeling proud of what could kill you. If something happens when she's born. If I lose you, I swear, I find a way to end my life as well."

"No, you won't." She said angrily. "You'll live to raise her and protect her and give her all your love and mine too. Promise me now, Edward. If the worst happens, you will live for our child...promise me now."

He looked into her eyes and saw the desperate fear in her demand.

"I promise," he said, but his words seemed more a way to calm her than a heart-felt promise.

"Besides," she snapped, still angry at his confession. "Nothing's going to happen. I just know it. Alice would have seen it, and you would have heard her see it...and she wouldn't be decorating a double nursery... if anything bad was going to happen. She would be planning a funeral."

" Morbid. Alice could be wrong for once, you know."

She gestured to the picnic that had mysteriously appeared on the kitchen counter while she was having blood drawn. "You gonna bet against Alice?"

"No, I guess not. She's never been wrong so far."

"What do you think we should name her?"

He laughed. "Why not let Alice see that too and save ourselves the trouble of deciding?"

Bella stood up. "I need a human moment."

"Can I watch?"

She looked at him as if her were demented. "We haven't been married long enough for that."

"Will we ever be?" he smirked. "I thought we were one person?"

"Never! Even if you change me, and we live forever."

"Illogical...vampires don't pee."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Be back in a minute." With that, she headed into the woods.

Edward lay on the blanket waiting for her. After a few minutes, he became restless and packed the picnic leftovers and smoothed out the blanket...just in case. Then he lay back down trying to adopt a pose that she would find sexy. Maybe he should take his shirt off...no that would be too obvious. But he took the shirt off anyway and folded in on the corner of the blanket. Maybe he should take off his shoes...faster than a speeding bullet they were sitting by his shirt with his socks rolled neatly inside them. He finger combed his messy hair and unbuttoned the top button on his jeans, then lay back down. She still hadn't returned. Hmmm, he thought... must have needed a very human moment. Patience...patience. He sat up. Where the hell was she? He heard her stomping around when she first left, but now, try as he might, he couldn't hear her. Just how far had she gone? She had been gone for three whole minutes.

Sudden panic brought him to his feet. What if something had happened?.. a nomad undetected, a wild animal... a fall? He caught her scent faintly on the wind... a trail to follow. He hurled himself after her trail. It went from tree to tree to tree... to a thicket and then to the creek and back to several other trees... then nothing. The trail stopped cold at a large tree. He backtracked and still couldn't catch it. Back to the tree where she had seemingly disappeared. Taken!

"O God!" he moaned as terror flooded his mind. Then, he realized he could hear the faint sound of her heart beating. She had to be close by...but where. Suddenly, something struck him on the head and bounced off. A pine comb...and then another one... and then a third. He looked up.

There she stood on a high limb, grinning down at him.

Vampire or not, relief actually made his legs weak and he reached out to brace himself on the tree trunk.

"You are in so much trouble," he threatened.. too happy to find her safe and sound to be more than mildly irritated. Pregnant ladies aren't supposed to be climbing trees."

Up the tree he went and perched on the limb beside her.

"Now I know where to hide from vampires," she laughed. "You couldn't smell me this high, could you?"

"No, the air current swept the scent up and away, but I heard your heart beating. How did you get up this high?"

She looked down. Her eyes widened at how high she was, and she wobbled a bit grabbing hold of the limb above her. For a minute she looked a little panicked. "I don't know. I've never climbed this high before. It just seemed easy. I guess the branches were low enough to grab."

"The bottom branch is almost six feet from the ground."

She didn't say anything for a minute.

"I guess I jumped and caught it." There was genuine fear in her voice.

"Let me get you down from here."

"Will you help me? I think I'm kind of frozen here."

Once they got to the bottom branch, he held both her hands in one of his and lowered her gently to the ground. Before he could hop down, she was off and running, again...her fear forgotten.

He froze. Every muscle in his body froze. Hadn't he told her not to run from him...several times?

"Bella," he growled trying to keep from chasing her. "Don't run from me...I told you..."

She just giggled and kept running as fast as she could, dodging trees and taunting him... forgetting everything he had told her about the predator instincts of vampires.

"Watch me, Edward. It must be those vitamins Carlisle makes me take. I can run pretty fast these days." Quickly, she darted behind a tree.

One minute he was standing at the bottom of the tree she had climbed and the next he had her pinned against the tree where she was hiding. He held her by the shoulders, and his open mouth was pressed to her neck.

"Edward?" His name on her lips vibrated with confusion and uncertainty.

"Don't move."

"Edward, you're scaring me."

"I should scare you. Never...never run from a vampire, Bella." His face was still buried in her throat.

Locked in his embrace she trembled like a captured rabbit, but said nothing more. Her fear tore at his heart and gave him the will power to release her. Stepping back, he glared at her half expecting her to collapse in terror; instead, her whole demeanor changed in a flash.

"What? No kiss...nothing? Game over... just like that?"

The thought occurred to him that she was playing. The chase was foreplay to her.

"This was all a game to you? The running, the 'Edward, you're scaring me.' The trembling?"

She flung her arms around his neck and plastered herself to his chest. "The trembling was real... I always tremble when you're about to make love to me...why did you stop?"

"For the love of all things holy, Bella, I was about to bite you." He kept his hands resolutely at his side...strangely enough that there was no taste of venom in his mouth.

"Sure you were."

He glared at her again. "I'm a monster, Bella. When are you going to get that through your thick skull?"

" But you're _my_ monster...Let me show you something, Edward." She pushed herself away from him and ran again...faster than he had ever seen her run... straight into the open meadow. He was right behind her once again consumed by the chase...by the prey trying to elude him...the mate who would not submit.

He tackled her halfway back to their picnic blanket, taking her down like a deer on the run. He made a cage of his arms and as they rolled over and over in the long grass, he absorbed all of the impact of the fall so she wouldn't be hurt. He had her clothes torn off in seconds. Spreading her legs with his thighs, he reached to unbutton his fly ready to mount and subdue...and froze... realizing she was right. He wasn't about to drain her. He was about to fuck her. As for Bella, she was busy running her hands all over his naked chest, sighing against his neck.

"Ooooh Edward, You're scaaaring meeee!" she mocked herself in an overly dramatic voice and then giggled..

"You were faking?"

"Yeah, I believe you like to think I'm a little afraid of you. It turns you on. You're a bit of a dominant kind of guy, sometimes."

"I could have hurt you."

"Never."

"So," he said, his eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Do you ever fake anything else?"

"Never," her moist lips moaned against his ear.

Leaving her torn clothes where they were, he picked her up and carried her to their blanket where he made love to her for the rest of the long hot summer afternoon. As the sun sank behind the trees, he gathered his sweaty, satiated wife into his arms and carried her home... her clothes,his shoes, the blanket, the tote bag left behind. Wearing only his shirt, she slept all the way there. He looked down at her slumbering form so trusting in his arms...her hair a dark tangle hanging over his arm, her nose pink from the sun, her lips slack in sleep, his scent all over her...such innocent trust humbled him. How could she sleep so peacefully in a monster's arms?

Was he a monster?

She made him reevaluate everything. Never having held himself in any high regard, he felt a little foolish to have believed the things society, literature, myths and legends and yes, even Carlisle, had led him to believe about his kind.

He had always believed his refusal to drink human blood was just an existential choice...but she made him believe such unimaginable things about himself.

But what was the difference between himself and other vampires who stalked and killed human beings down through the ages. They were what they believed themselves to be: killers.

But wasn't that true of anyone, human or vampire or werewolf. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is." He had always thought that verse referred to sin. Maybe, it also referred to goodness as well. If a man thought he was evil, he was. If he believed he was good, maybe he really was good.

Bella believed he was good, and so he tried so hard to live up to her expectations, but secretly he always felt unworthy of her high opinion.

What about his own expectations? He had always expected the worst of himself and that was his failing. He could feel the self disgust he had carried inside himself for almost a hundred years beginning to loosen and dissipate, evaporating into the summer air around him. His whole body felt lighter as the burden of despair eased from his heart leaving only his love for her and maybe, just maybe for the first time ever, a little forgiveness and a little love for himself. But if he wasn't a monster, then what was he? Perhaps, it was time to figure that out.

That night, he brought her a cup of warmed blood from the kitchen and handed to her. Most of the family was watching an old movie on the big screen. All those of the vampire and werewolf persuasion turned immediately when the smell hit the room. Everyone watched Bella; her face was as red as the blood in her cup. She gave Edward a look of consternation. She thought she was going drink it in her room privately, but she had to admit the delicious smell had her swallowing rapidly...kind of like a really good steak, although the thought of drinking it in front of everyone made her feel like some kind of monster.

"Yes," Edward said looking down at her, his eyes smiling tenderly, "but you're my monster."

"Can you read my mind, now?"

"No, why?"

"I was thinking about looking like a monster, when you said that."

"I was referring to your statement this afternoon, remember?"

"Oh!"

"Quit stalling. Drink up."

He sat beside her and bent over the cup held so carefully in her hand. Taking a little sip, he smacked his lips and said, "Mmmmmm...delicious..." which made her giggle. He actually thought it tasted awful as he was in the habit of drinking straight from the vein, but he figured she needed some encouragement.

Slowly, she raised the blood to her lips and took a little sip.

"It was divine! He had heated it just enough. It tasted like the juice from a prime rib roast to her. She drained the cup in less than a minute.

Edward smiled approvingly.

Within minutes, she could feel the difference. She was no longer tired and a warm tingle swept through her body. The baby did a little ballet in her womb and she handed Edward the cup and clutched her stomach.

"Whoa! She likes it."

"Want some more?"

"Yes, please."

"I'll get it," Emmett volunteered. He flitted to the kitchen to prepare Bella's second drink. Sticking his head around the corner, he yelled, "Want some popcorn with this, Bella?" When he brought it to her, he handed her a big bowl of popcorn which she passed around to the pack.. Then the Dark One smirked down at her.

"Do you want to drink this blood, Bella?"

"Yes?" She was confused by his question.

"Let's hear it, then. Come on...I gotta hear it. Always wanted to hear it from a pretty girl."

"Hear what?" she asked innocently, but suddenly knowing what he meant.

"Do you want to drink this blood?"

Everyone waited. Sniggers were stifled all over the room. They wanted to hear her.

Bella shook her head at his buffoonery.

"Okay... I vant to drink your blaaahd!...Happy now?"

Laughter erupted around the room as Bella grabbed the warm cup and drained it quickly.

Emmett fell to the floor and rolled around laughing which made everyone else laugh even harder.

"Idiots!" But she was secretly pleased that they had made light of the whole thing...Emmett's joking made it less abnormal to her... more acceptable.

Little Wolfe wiggled down from his mother's arms and crawled over to Emmett who was still rolling on the floor not even trying to control his merriment. The little boy took hold of Emmett's knee and pulled himself up. Grinning to show his two new teeth, he patted his father's arm.

"Dadda!" he proclaimed proudly for the first time.

Everyone fell quiet including Emmett whose laughter faded as he sat up. The irreverent, jokster suddenly screwed his face up as if in great pain and took the little boy into his arms.

"Yes! Dadda," Emmett told him sweetly. "I'm your Dadda."

Rose pressed her fingers to her mouth as if she too would have been crying if only...

"And who is that?" Emmett asked the little boy, pointing to Rose.

"Mama!" Little Wolfe crowed.

Everyone applauded which the toddler obviously loved. He cackled with glee at the attention he was getting.

"Mama...Mama...Mama." Then turning to Emmett, "Dadda...Dadda." As long as the applause lasted he performed his new trick. Forgetting himself, he turned loose of his father's knee and clapped his little hands together to applaud as well.

Everyone held their breath as he stood alone for the first time. The sudden quiet alarmed him. and he looked down to see that he was unsupported. His drooling chin quivered with fear as he began to wobble. Emmett caught him as he fell. Swooping him up, the vampire stood giving his mate a significant look.

"Time for bed, little Kiowa," he said and then administered a fibbet to his son's belly making him squeal with delight.

Rose crossed the room and the three of them went up the stairs without taking their leave...proud parents wanting to spend some time alone with their son.

Everyone turned back to the movie, saying nothing, but deeply touched by the miracle of first words and first steps. Jacob squeezed Rachel's hand tightly. Bella burrowed into Edward's side and sighed.. both couples thinking of their own miracles.

Little Wolf was the only one among them who was not a werewolf, not a vampire, not attached to either species by marriage and pregnancy. His future was completely human and his progress was paramount in their concerns. Each one there would willing give his or her life for that little boy. That fact had already been tested and proven. It wasn't something they talked about, but they all knew it. He belonged to Rose and Emmett, but he also belonged to everyone in the family and most importantly... he belonged to the future.

When the movie ended, everyone except the wolf patrol went up to bed. When Jake and Rachel got to the top of the stairs, they found Alice sitting on the step at the top. She had her head buried in her hands and didn't look up or speak to anyone.

Jake was reluctant to disturb her. He was almost getting used to her little trances and knew it was best to let her work her way through whatever vision she was trying to see. He knew Edward was right behind him, with Bella, and would check the pixie out. He half turned with a raised eyebrow, but Edward just shook his head and they went on to their rooms.

"What was that all about?" Bella whispered when as he shut the door and went to put on some soft music.

"She's watching Aro's decisions. They keep changing. A few of his plans have her worried."

"Such as?"

"One of the scenarios for the attack next month involves using the human captives as hostages. Aro realizes now that we killed Jane, Felix and Dimitre, and he's afraid of a face to face encounter with us. He may send one of the humans to us with terms."

"What terms?"

"He may threaten to kill some of the hostages unless we give him what he wants."

"You mean _who_ he wants?"

He didn't answer.

"He wants you and Alice, doesn't he...to replace the loss of Jane."

"He has always wanted me and Alice...particularly Alice."

"Oh God! You would never agree to such terms, would you?"

"Oh course not... but.."

"But what?"

If he told us he would let the rest of you live, it might be an option to consider."

The look of horror in her eyes made him regret his words. She shrank from him pressing herself against the wall near the door. Her heart was beating so hard, he worried she might be going into a panic attack. She couldn't seem to get enough air in her lungs as she slide down the wall as if to collapse. He reached for her, but she slapped his hands away violently. He disregarded her angry rejection of his comforting embrace for once and pulled her into his arms, pushing her face into his shoulder.

"You might as well kill me if you do such a thing." He could hardly understand what she was saying as she was shaking so and gasping for every breath against him.

"Shhhh. Hush...I would never leave you. We'll find another way if that's what he does. There's always another way. I'm sorry I said anything. Breathe, Bella, take deep breaths and calm down. It's a month away and we have plenty of time to plan. Do I need to call Carlisle to bring something for you? Shhhh!" He carried her to the bed and lay beside her, stroking her face and smoothing kisses in her hair and on her cheek. He hummed softly to her ...a song she had never heard before until he felt the her muscles begin to relax a bit. Finally, the trembling ceased.

"You have a nice voice," she whispered after a while.

"It's a lullaby. I wrote it last fall after I met you."

"It sounds familiar."

He smiled against her temple.

"It should...I hummed it to you so many times at night when I watched you sleep. If you were restless, it seemed to sooth you."

"Did you ever...you know... take advantage?"

"Take advantage?"

"You know...touch me while I slept?"

"Your hair, your face, your hand sometimes."

"That's all."

"That's all...scout's honor." He lied neglecting to tell her he had never been a scout.

"It's spooky to think you actually slept beside me and I didn't even know you were there...but..."

"But?"

One morning when I woke up last November, I found my window open a little and I couldn't remember opening it the night before. I remembered how impossible that window was to open when I was a little girl. I suspected Charlie had nailed it shut so I wouldn't fall out or something, but when I tried to close it that morning, it slide down so easily. I just thought he had removed the nail."

"That was me. I brought some lubricant to make it open and close quietly so the noise wouldn't wake you up."

"What if you had climbed through that window and found me awake?"

"That's an intriguing question...No...Not a chance. I waited outside until I heard your heart beat and breathing slow down into the rhythms of deep sleep...and, of course, Charlie's snoring. I could tell when he was dreaming too...so it was not likely that I would be caught...although a couple of nights you did wake up while I was there."

"What did you do?"

" I hid under your bed or in your closet."

She laughed. "I always knew there were monsters under my bed and in my closet. Charlie had to come in and scare them away with his revolver sometimes when I was little."

"Now you have a monster in your bed," he growled playfully and nipped at her neck happy to have finally distracted her from her fears.

"Don't ever leave me," she blurted, suddenly.

"No, I won't," he vowed solemnly and then made the most gentle love to her until she fell asleep in his arms. As she slept, he lay listening to Alice way into the night as she wrestled with her visions while he wracked his brain for some way to outwit the machinations of a creature who had lived far longer than he, one who had survived intrigues that would have made the Borgias look like Sunday school teachers. He figured most of the female humans Aro had taken were probably pregnant by now. A woman who proved infertile would be culled right away. That would have been the first thing the Volturi would have done. His heart ached for the poor wretches held captive by Aro and his monstrous guards. The more he thought about them, the more determined he became to save them. Eventually, the steady rhythm of Bella's heart and her slow, deep breathing calmed him. The scent of his mate, once a constant torment to him, now surrounded him, filled him with a peace and quiet he had not known in this life or the one before. His mind drifted …...to thoughts of Christmas and then an image of his daughter appeared in his mind's eye. Not as an infant, but as a toddler. She had auburn hair and green eyes. In his fantasy, he saw her playing in the forest. She turned to smile at him and then jumped seven feet straight up into the air to catch a blue butterfly. Landing lightly on a patch of moss, she brought the butterfly to him for his inspection. Her face tilted up at him holding wonder like a cup...a tiny replica of Bella's face. Such an unusual but beautiful reverie...watching his daughter play in the forest. He looked around, but couldn't see Bella anywhere. That made him a little uneasy...it almost felt like a dream...but of course, vampires couldn't dream.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my creation..I mean no infringement of copyright...just playing with Stephanie's toys again.

Author's Note: Sorry for the tardy update...I've had family in for the holiday weekend. Thanks for the sweet reviews and yes, the Volturi are coming soon...

The Blood Wars

Chapter 21

"I don't think it's a good time to bother them," Rachel whispered. "I can hear music playing."

Jake gave her a wicked look and kept pounding on the door.

"Come on, Edward...open the damn door. I need to talk to you...right now!"

"Not now, Jake!" The terse reply vibrated with frustration and anger. "Go away!"

"Right now, Dracula. I've got important news, and everybody needs to hear it...including you and Bella. Open the damn door...I'm not going away." He pounded on the door again and rattled the doorknob.

"Shit! Give me five minutes, you mangy mut..."

Jake could hear the sound of Bella's protesting voice above the sounds of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He hit the door again and rattled the knob.

Without warning, the knob was jerked out of his hand, pulled inward with such force that the upper hinge was torn out of the frame. Edward stood in the halfway open doorway, blocking Jake's view of Bella. His hair was disheveled and the top button of his shirt was in the third buttonhole. He had his pants on, but they were not completely zipped and hanging from his hips...the only thing holding them up, his obvious state of unrelieved arousal.

Jake took a step back, but his grin did not falter. Now here was an Edward he had never seen before...distracted, out of control, frustrated and entirely pissed off.

"What do you want, Dog?" the vampire growled through clenched teeth.

"We all need to talk, I heard..."

"I know what you heard, but we have an hour. Now go the hell away and I'll be down in a few minutes..."

"Everybody's already waiting..." He didn't get to finish his sentence before Edward slammed the door in his face. It tilted inward about an inch at the top where the hinge was broken.

"I told you so," Rachel took his hand and turned him to the stairs. "That was entirely mean of you, Jake."

The wolf grinned broadly as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah," he said arrogantly. "But it was fun and I owed him, remember?"

Rachel reached up and gave him a purple nurple. "Don't do it again...you might not like the payback."

"Ouch...why do you care? He had it coming..." Jake raised his eyebrows and smirked at his own raunchy humor.

"Because Bella's my friend, and I don't like to see her embarrassed."

"Emmett owes me a sawbuck. He double-dog-dared me, and you don't double-dog-dare the Dog."

"Oh yeah? And where are you going to spend all that money? Hmmmm? If Emmett dared you to blow your brains out through your nose, you would probably grab a Kleenex box...and since when did you start calling yourself Dog? I thought that pissed you off."

"Well, at first it did, but I'm kind of used to it now, and besides...I am, you know, THE DOG... as in Top Dog, as in the Leader of the Pack... as in Alpha. Besides, they don't call me a dog...they call me Dog...It's a guy thing."

Rachel rolled her eyes at him as they went to join the others down in the family room.

It was almost an hour before Beethoven finished his Moonlight Sonata.

Just as a relaxed looking Edward and a red faced Bella descended the stairs, Jake went to the door and turned to say, "They're here."

The Cullens and the rest of the pack got up to join him on the porch. Jake had heard the news from Embry over an hour ago when their visitors were still quite a few miles away, so there had been plenty of time to prepare himself and the others. Carlisle thought it best to leave the cousins out of it for the time being...so as not to overwhelm anyone. Seth and Embry were following them in.

Rachel noted the grim look on her husband's face. He was uneasy ...she could tell from the way he moved... deliberately...slowly as if he expected trouble.

He gave her a quick look making sure he knew exactly where she was before stepping down to the bottom step; she and the others stayed on the porch... silent watchers in the foggy twilight.

Two large shadows appeared at the forest's edge, hesitating for a moment before advancing slowly across the yard though the darkening air. As they crept out of the deep shade of the woods, their eyes began to lose their luminescent glow, and the group gathered on the porch could see two small shapes mounted on their furry backs.

A few yards from the house, they stopped. The larger black wolf lay down while a boy who looked to be around six or seven, dismounted by sliding down his side. In a shimmering explosion, the wolf metamorphosed into Sam Uley. Without turning his back, he pulled on his pants and went to the second wolf where he unfastened a leather harness that held the body of a little girl secured to its back. The girl was probably no more than three and sleeping soundly. Sam put the limp toddler to his shoulder as he shielded the second wolf's phasing giving Leah time to dress. They both looked warily up at the silent group on the porch. The young boy clung to Sam's right leg and cast shy glances at the silent strangers on the porch.

Jacob stepped off the bottom step and walked over to Sam. They looked at each other for a second or two, "I'd hug you, Man, but looks like you have your hands full," He jerked his chin in the direction of the child still sleeping against Sam's shoulder and smiled down at the little boy.

"I won't be staying long. Just needed a place to leave the kids where they'll be safe. I thought you'd be at the Res, but Embry caught my thoughts about fifty miles out and told us where you were. I would really appreciate it if you would take the children...I just don't think I can keep them safe anymore. We've been attacked twice."

"How many?"

"Just one each time and lucky for us. If there had been more, we might have lost the kids. Figured my luck wouldn't hold indefinitely. I didn't know where to take them but here."

"Where did you find them?"

"Found the girl in a little town in Canada about two days after the virus swept through. We heard her crying when we passed the house where her folks died...she would have starved to death... The boy we found just outside of Portland. Best I can figure, his parents were trying to outrun it and died in the parking lot of a convenience store. I don't know how he got out of the car...Pure luck that we found him too..it kills me to think how many we didn't find, you know?"

"Stay with us, Sam. Don't leave just yet. We have some big trouble coming and could use the help.'

" Yeah, I heard from Embry...but I don't think I would feel exactly comfortable here..." His dark eyes glanced at the Cullens on the porch.

"Don't be like that, Man! They took us in and treated us like family...They're good people once you get to know them."

"It's not that, Jake...I meant I'm not comfortable around anyone...I wouldn't be staying if it was just you guys..I'm not good to be around anybody yet...If I could shake Leah's ass, I'd leave her too. "

Jake heard a threatening growl behind Sam as Leah made her sentiments clearly known.

"What if I made it impossible for you to leave?"

"Don't try Jake. I know you're Alpha now, but please just don't do that to me...you don't know what it's like."

"What are you going to do...wander around until you find enough vampires to take you out?"

"That was sort of my plan, and then Leah showed up...so until I get rid of her, I have to make an effort to keep her alive...figure I owe it to Harry and Sue ."

"I'll make you a deal...If you'll stay until we deal with the Volturi, You can go do whatever it is you think you have to do. I'll even find a way to keep Leah here... Wolf's word, Sam. If you hang around a while, you might change your mind, who knows...anyway, we 're going to need all the help we can get just to survive the attack...what do you say?"

Sam turned and stared back into the forest for a moment as if he had heard someone calling him. He turned to Jake and gave him a long look, thinking over his offer.

"You'll make her stay here if I hang around long enough to help out with these Italians? Swear to God?"

"Swear to God."

Sam gave a brief nod which seemed to be the signal for Carlisle to descend the stairs.

"Sam," he said softly. Let's get these children in the house and fed. You all look exhausted. Esme has food ready and your rooms have been aired and made up. We all hope you'll feel welcome to stay with us."

"Come on," Jake grinned. "I want to introduce you to my wife."

After the unexpected guests were fed, and the exhausted children were tucked into bed, Sam listened as the Cullens put the finer points on the situation with the Volturi. Leah sat in a corner watching him as if she half expected him to slip away now that they had found a place for the children. Several times, she noticed Sam's nose fair. She smiled. The smell of the vampire family made her nose burn as well. How did Jake stand it all the time?

Through wolf telepathy she usually knew what Sam had on his mind. In darker moments, she realized she probably wouldn't be able to save him, but she hoped if she could keep him alive long enough, his pain might one day diminish enough to let him at least breathe without pain.

She wanted to hate Emily...wanted to, but couldn't... how can you hate a dead woman? It wasn't Emily's fault that Leah had fallen for Sam before the whole imprinting thing. Fallen...as if she merely loved him... as if what she felt was some kind of adolescent crush. That was what she wanted the pack to believe. They thought they could read every thought in her head, but she was female...and like eons of female ancestors, she had been conditioned from primordial times to keep secrets. It was a survival mechanism in women. The female of every species was by her very nature secretive...it was encoded in her genes and handed down from mother to daughter from times beyond calculating.

Males generally depended on their size and strength to survive...but not women. At the center of every woman's breast beat a secret heart, and Leah's deepest heart...the one she worked so hard to hide from the pack with her constant anger... was one that had imprinted on Sam years ago before they even started dating...he had feelings for her before he imprinted on Emily...she knew he had...even when they were just kids who didn't even know what imprinting was...before they both began to phase. She also knew her imprint on him was not reciprocated. Sam had always been sublimely unaware, and she planned to keep him that way. She had taken his anger, his rejection, and his betrayal, but she would not endure his pity.

The pack knew she loved him, but they never guessed what Leah knew...she could not live without Sam Uley just as he couldn't live without Emily. So she had gone after him when he ran, knowing what he would try to do. She had stayed with him...refused to let him run her off. Several times he had almost succeeded... his cruel words and his constant rejection a heartbreaking torment...but even he couldn't break a heart already broken...broken... the when he left her bed and went to Emily's.

How ironic that they had spent the last few months sleeping together again, albeit chastely...and that night in the Cullen's home, he came to her bed as usual. She wasn't surprised. For months they had curled their bodies around the children as they slept trying to keep them warm and safe. As far as Same was concerned, they were still in enemy territory...even after all Jake had told them. That kind of trust didn't come in a matter of hours. But he wasn't there in her bed for her...only for the kids. Making sure the kids were covered, he settled onto the bed and looked into Leah's dark eyes for a moment. She let him hear nothing but her anger as usual. It was her camouflage... amazing what a woman's anger could hide from the men around her.

"Do you want me to sleep in my room?" he asked her.

"No," was all she said.

He nodded.

He fell asleep first,but she lay watching him. Relaxed in sleep, it was hard to see the despair that drove him. They looked like any mother and father whose children had crawled into the bed with them... their bodies curled around their kids like two halves of a heart filled with the miracles their love had created. It was a cruel illusion, but it was all she was ever likely to have, so she let it warm her for a while as she drifted into dreams.

The next morning, everyone...everyone who bothered to sleep that is...awoke to the sounds of carpentry and heavy equipment. Trees were falling at the hands of busy vampires who had moved a small cabin from the outskirts of Forks to the edge of the forest near the Cullen home. Tanya, Kate, Carmen and Eleazer, Jasper, Emmett...all of the Cullens were working on it. It was for Sam and Leah.

They had simply lifted the house onto a flatbed truck and brought it home with them. Rose was already stretching wire from the power plant to the new addition to the growing settlement. Emmett was digging trenches for pipes and already had the septic tank in the ground and covered thanks to his new acquisition, a big red backhoe. It had all been Alice's idea...of course. She had trouble seeing the wolves futures, and had not seen the arrival of Sam and Leah, but sometime during the night, she had seen them living in this particular house in the not too distant future. What else she had seen about them, she would not say, although Edward tried to make her let him see...she kept thinking in Mandarin which he had never learned.

"We thought you might be more comfortable here until you got used to our...er...scent," Calisle told Sam and Leah as they stood watching."Jake and the pack seemed to have gotten used to us already," he added smiling... but you're certainly welcome to stay in the house with us if you like." He stood waiting and hoping their gift wouldn't be taken as a rejection or offense. "We thought you might stay longer if you didn't feel crowded."

"Nobody died in this house."Alice assured them. It was a vacation cabin.

"It's great," Sam said softly. "You've gone to a lot of trouble, but like I said. I won't be staying...just till everybody's safe. Leah and the kids will need it though."

"Yeah, right," Leah jeered. God forbid that you actually accept the responsibility of staying around to help take care of Joey and Missy...cause that's what real men do, isn't it? No, you have to leave so you can keep nursing that self-absorbed grief of yours. That's what your precious Emily would want you to do, isn't?" With that she took the children from him and went stomping back to the house to feed them breakfast. Half way there, she whirled around in her fury and said to the Cullens.

"Thanks for the house...I really appreciate it. I've always hated vampires, but I have to admit, you've turned out to be kinder, and more humane than I ever expected. You protect the weak, and you don't abandon children. From what the pack has told me, you're much better people than some jackass werewolves I know."

She continued to the Cullen's house, carrying Missy on her hip and leading Joey by the hand. She slammed the screen door behind her so hard it bounced back open.

Sam said nothing...his dead eyes showing no reaction.

An awkward silence followed in her stormy wake.

Carlisle cleared his throat, and they all went back to work. With vampire speed and strength, the project was a one day wonder. Many hands make light work. Carmen finished the project off with a flourish. She brought a silver cross she had been given by one of her now deceased coven mates and fastened it above the front door.

"To keep vampires out," she explained to everyone with a smile and then went inside to help Esme arrange furniture.

They moved in that afternoon. Rose even installed a deluxe swing set and sand box for the kids thinking it wouldn't be long before her little Kiowa would be old enough to enjoy playing with other kids. Tightening the last bolt in the slide, she took her son from Rachel's arms noting how much bigger the girl's belly was than Bella's when she was, in fact, not nearly as far along. Rose listened intently for a moment or two. Curious.

Edward shook his head at her as if counseling her to keep her thoughts to herself. He nodded. She smiled. So, Carlisle hadn't told Jake or Rachel yet.

…...

"Twins?"

The volume of Jake's alarmed outburst could be heard all over the house.

Carlisle had taken them into his den for a conference where he announced the news.

"Twin boys?"

"I don't know the gender yet, but yes, twins."

"Why did you wait so long to tell us?"

"There were reasons, Jake. I'll let you read about the unusual development of twins, if you like, but take my word. It's best to wait a reasonable amount of time to make sure they are both going to be carried to term."

"Twins! Oh my Sweet Jesus, twins."

When they came down stairs, Emmett was playing chess with Jasper. He didn't look up from the board.

"So, Dog...I hear you're having a litter."

Something just snapped in Rachel's mind the minute she heard his tasteless joke. She flew across the room at him. The chess board went careening off into the corner and the pieces were scattered across the room as she attacked him. Pummeling his head with her fists, trying to scratch his eyes out, kicking him so hard, she felt like she had broken a toe on his leg.

It was like watching a chihuahua attack a Great Dane.

Jake grabbed her and tried to peel her off Emmett, but her swinging fists caught him on the nose and one of her wildly kicking feet hit his family jewels so hard, he fell to the floor groaning and trying to contain her pint sized fury. She tore free from her incapacitated husband's arms and resumed her attack cursing like a sailor...cursing like two sailors actually. Jake had never even heard some of the words she used.

Emmett was stunned into utter immobility at her uncharacteristic outburst. At first he just stood there looking down at Jacob who had finally, wrestled her to the floor and tried to wrap his arms and legs around her... doing his best to keep her still without hurting her or the baby.

Emmett looked over at Jasper who was so stunned, he still held the chess piece he was about to move when she had overturned the chess board.

"For God's sake, Jasper. Do something!" Emmett pleaded with his brother.

Jasper shrugged and backed away, putting his hands up in a defensive posture that said he wasn't about to get involved.

Looking up at the Dark One, Rachel calmed enough for articulate speech and hissed, "Don't you ever refer to my babies as a litter, do you hear me, you thick skulled leach? The next time, I'll find some way to hurt you... and if I can't, I'll...I'll find someone who can. Do you feel me, Emmett?"

He burst into laughter, and then sobered, seeing she was deadly serious.

"I'm sorry, Little Mama. Sincerely, I apologize. I'll never do such a thing again. I swear."

"Can I let you go?" Jake asked her. He too was amazed at her towering rage. Where was the submissive, quiet little girl he had married? Something like pride filled his chest as he untangled himself from her still quivering body and helped her to stand. She straightened her clothes with renewed dignity still glaring at Emmett. She started to leave.

"Oh come on, Rachel," Emmett pleaded. "Don't be mad at me...You know I can't help it...Say you forgive me. Don't leave mad. When Rose hears about this, she'll make me sleep in the dog...outside for a month or more.."

She stopped and looked back at his smiling face. He seemed sincere enough.

"I forgive you, but just watch your mouth in the future."

"Give me a hug?"

Jake gave her a little push, and she went reluctantly into Emmett's arms. He grinned incorrigibly over her shoulder at his friend so sure of his ability to charm, raising his eyebrows in awe of her spunk.

"Hey, Rach," Emmett told her as he drew back from the hug. He patted her growing baby bump gently. "I think something's coming between us."

"Oh Good God!" she groaned.

He put his arm over her shoulder and smacked a kiss on her cheek.

"You still love me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I hit you so hard," she mumbled suddenly dismayed at her outburst and then impulsively hugged him again for a long moment.

"Oh shit! Don't cry, Rachel. There's no crying when you fight vampires...takes all the fun out of it."

"Enough!" Jake pulled her away from Emmett, and they headed out the door to go see Sam and Leah.

He could here their laughter behind him all the way to the door of the new cabin.

That night at dinner, Emmett showed up at the table wearing a huge bandage on his head and about fifty band aids on his cheeks and arms. Using a decorative cane that Esme kept by the door, he limped painfully to the table and collapsed dramatically into his chair.

At first everyone was bewildered, but when Edward and Jake started laughing, everyone else did without really knowing why. Rachel's mouth twitched a time or two and then she too broke down. It took a while to explain, but that brought on even more hilarity.

The only ones unmoved by the hilarity were Sam and Leah. He sat watching them...amazed that the Cullens always came to the table at dinner time just to be with their friends while they ate. He wanted to be a part of the easy camaraderie of the family, but wouldn't allow himself.

Emily would have laughed. She would have thought the idea of a puny little girl trying to beat up a hulking vampire like Emmett hilarious, but Emily wasn't here. He felt eyes on him and looking up he saw Leah watching him intently across the huge table. For the first time in a long time he felt something besides his grief.

It was shame.

As the days of August rolled slowly into September, the Cullens and their Denali cousins practiced fighting techniques every day. Even the wolves joined in learning how to coordinate their skills for the upcoming battle. Alice's newest predictions were that the Volturi would arrive in the middle of the month. The exact day was unclear because she said Aro was trying to hinder her by not deciding the day until the last minute. She would know when they left Volturi for Seattle, but how long he took to secure his human herd and where were unmade choices at this point. They were all coming. Of that she was sure. Aro refused to trust his guard with the humans while he confronted the Cullens. Jane and Felix had sent quite a few survivors back to him and they had destroyed almost every nomad and established coven throughout Europe, but they were dead now and the Americas were, as of yet, mostly unplundered. The Cullens, the largest coven in America and worse, the one that had destroyed his precious Jane...were in his way. He had to deal with them before he could completely establish his absolute dominion.

Carlisle didn't practice with the others. He spent long hours in his lab. Sometimes, Edward helped him. Periodically, he left for a couple of days and always returned with more machinery and equipment. Edward knew what he was doing, but kept it to himself for good reasons. Then, late one rainy afternoon early in September, when everyone was sprawled around the family room watching a DVD of old Andy Griffin reruns, he came up the stairs from his lab with a smile on his face and an injection vial in his hand.

Edward grabbed the remote and turned off the player despite a few protests of the audience. He stood up and smiled at his father knowing what he was about to say.

Carlisle waited for them to quiet down before he spoke.

"As you know," he began. "Edward and I have been spending a lot of time down in the lab these days. For a while now, we've have been concerned about what will happen if survivors of the plague have children."

"What do you mean if?" Rose wanted to know.

"There has been no evidence that survival is an inheritable trait. After all, Bella's father and probably her mother died of the plague, but she lived. That was true of Joey and Missy as well. Obviously, the pack's resistance is linked with their ability to shape shift, but that is not the case with humans. It is possible that Bella's little girl and Rachel's twins will be born immune since they are ..half vampire and half werewolf...but...what about the babies of other survivors? Alice tells me that the females captured by Aro have been forced to...conceive...for lack of a better term. Some of their babies must be near to term by now. Will they be immune? Not likely. It will take years for the virus to dissipate or mutate...even without a host...so a vaccine is the only answer. I actually started working on a vaccination to the virus when it hit Europe. I didn't make much progress although I desperately wanted to find one before it hit the States. I know every virologist and researcher in the world tried to do so as well because I followed their research on the internet before it shut down. They failed, obviously, and for a while after the end, I just gave up, but with the arrival of Bella and others, I renewed my efforts. One problem was the extremely small size of the virus and another complication was..."

The breathless quiet in the room was palpable as he paused for effect and then smiled broadly.

He shrugged unable to go into all the minute details of his quest for a vaccination...unable to keep the good news to himself a moment longer.

"We finally did it!" He held up the vial.

The room erupted in hoots and shouts of joy. Esme watched her husband from the kitchen doorway her fingers pressed to her mouth... beaming with pride in his accomplishment as the family hugged him and patted him on the back, vampire, werewolf and human alike. This fear had been a cloud of worry that hovered invisibly for so long over the happy prospects of Jake's and Edward's impending fatherhood. Of course, Edward had several clouds still looming, but at least this was one less.

" Sit down and let me finish," he admonished them, but his stern words didn't diminish the happiness in the room.

"I'm pretty sure it will work...I've existed...er lived for centuries as most of you know, so I ….and especially Edward...who has several medical degrees himself...have done considerable research in the field, but until we test it on a human, we won't know for sure...but I'm pretty darned sure it will be effective."

Little bursts of laughter at his first use of anything remotely close to a swear word erupted around the room.

"Pretty darned sure, Carlisle?" Emmett taunted.

The good doctor and minister's son nodded emphatically.

"Pretty darned sure!"

"Then, it's party time!" Jacob decreed and headed for the kitchen for snacks.

And party they did until the wee hours of the morning.

Emmett and Jasper cleared the middle of the room and rolled up the large carpet.

Edward sat at the piano with Bella at his side and played dance tunes.

And everyone...except for Sam and Leah...got up to skip the light fantastic.

Seth and Tanya danced only with each other, but the others switched partners over and over taking care not to tire the pregnant ladies too much.

Emmett even danced with Rachel dramatically flinching when she reached up to put her arm on his shoulder.

Little Joey and Missy swung each other around in the middle of the other dancers to the amusement of the crowd.

Rose and Emmett held Little Wolf between them and waltzed around and around without missing a step despite the wiggling, giggling burden in their arms.

Had there been a prize for best dancers, Jasper and Alice would have won. She knew every complicated step before he took it and followed without flaw, but after a while they stopped to help keep the constant flow of refreshments going so Esme could dance with Carlisle.

Jake made a big production of standing with his middle arched far out from Rachel's growing stomach until she smacked him lightly and then he drew her close laughing

The pack took turns with all the ladies, especially Kate, who turned out to be an excellent line dancer.

Carmen and Eleazer enjoyed the Latin dances but mostly visited with Carlisle and Esme and enjoyed watching the others.

At one point, Jacob and Emmett went out on the porch to smoke confiscated cigars. Esme wouldn't allow it in the house. They stood quietly for a spell enjoying the once-upon-a-time expensive smokes and then Jacob turned to the vampire and said, "Thanks for what you did for Rachel today."

"Yeah, who woulda thunk?" Emmett arched his dark brows. "Been a long time coming, that. Your girl has some rage in her, I tell you. It was beautiful to see."

"Just between you and me, Emmett...and I mean just between you and me...Edward said some guy...one of her foster parents...tried to force her to be his submissive...he beat her, Em, with the buckle end of his belt...and that's just what I know about...Edward says there was worse, but he won't tell me...says it's pointless now that she's getting better. She wasn't raped...at least...I know that...but she won't talk about it much. I tell you what...when those Volturi get here, I'm gonna pretend they are the sicko who hurt my Rachel, and I'm gonna work a world of hurt on them...Emmett...what do you think?"

"Good enough, but Jake, let me tell you what I've learned about living with a damaged woman..." And he went on to tell his friend about Rose's past and how they had learned to deal with it over the years. Jake listened carefully to the painful story of how Rose came to be a vampire and what it took to get her past that horrible time in her past.

"Thing is, Jake...don't let her run from her anger...or hide in it...get her to let it out, or it will fester and rot her soul...she'll never be half the woman she could be if she can't purge the anger she has about what was done to her...and even then, she'll always have to deal with the scars. They'll never completely go away. Provoke her...but protect her as well. She needs to know it's okay to be angry even with you...that you won't quit loving her or tie her up or take a belt to her...or worse," he ended bitterly.

Jake nodded looking off into the darkness.

"The reasons I like to fight so much, Jake, are the same reasons you dream about working your rage out on the Volturi. Somebody's gotta pay and I'm mighty happy to be the one collecting the check...even if it isn't from the one that owes the debt. Rage is a funny thing, isn't it? Can't carry it around in your pocket forever...can't keep it locked in a cage...it has to be let off the leash to play eventually or it will destroy you from the inside out. "

Jake wasn't sure if Emmett was talking about himself at that point or Rose or Rachel or …. but he didn't have a chance to ask because Rachel and Rose called them back in to dance. They stubbed out their cigars and went inside like obedient husbands where the party was still going strong... their moment of confession over but not forgotten.

Finally, Esme took over the piano and encouraged Edward and Bella to take the floor. She played _Unchained Melody,_ and they waltzed together so gracefully...so obviously bewitched by each other, that for a while everyone moved aside to stand in awe of their elegant flight around the room until the last, heart rending note of the song had ended.

With their dance, the party wound down and ended. Everyone went their various ways up or out or over to sleep or patrol or read or make love.

It had been a very, very good day, Edward thought as he carried his weary wife up the stairs...but he realized that one of the things that made it so good ironically, was everyone's awareness that worse days were coming. He gently lowered his already sleeping mate onto their bed and pulled the covers over both of them. He sighed pulling her into his arms... guarding her sleep as always through the darkest hours of the night...worrying about the future and what it held for her and for him... for their child...borrowing trouble as Esme often put it...but despite his worries or maybe because of them... it had definitely been a very good day. He kissed Bella's forehead tenderly. Carpe Diem. Carpe Diem.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Not my characters or plot. All belongs to Stephanie Myer. I intend no copyright infringement. All glory to the great mind who conceived and brought forth what will stand as a classic archetype of supernatural romance down through the ages.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in getting this out. It's a loooooooong one! I wanted to do justice to the great battle...not that it's epic...I just wanted it to be credible. Enjoy!

The Blood Wars

Chapter 22

They heard the car coming down the foggy drive before they saw it. The gray Suburban rounded the bend and came to a stop in front of the porch. Alice had commanded her brother to meet the man in Forks and escort him to the house. It was a short drive...they had introduced themselves, but neither of them had said much after that. Edward welcomed the quiet as he searched the messenger's mind. His impression so far was of a man who had spent the last few months of his life in Hell.

Edward got out first.

The driver seemed to be gathering his nerve...but he finally opened the door and stood looking over the top of the car at the rather large group who waited for him.

Tall, and gaunt, he had the look of a man who knew the taste of despair, but kept moving anyway. His dark eyes were haunted by fatigue. Hunger had sharpened his features with its distinctive hollows and angles. His clothes and skin were filthy as was his full beard and uncut hair. He must have been handsome once... with his dark brown eyes and high cheekbones, but the pale cast of his skin, the dark shadows around his eyes, and the grim set of his full mouth made him look almost like a vampire himself. He looked around the assembly immediately recognizing the ones who were vampires but there were also humans here who obviously hadn't been beaten, starved or chained, and he didn't understand that at all...nor did he understand why the vampires among them had golden eyes.

"My name is Riley Biers," he said in a subdued voice. "I've been sent to deliver terms."

Jake stepped forward figuring the man needed to feel the touch of human skin. He extended his hand, and waited.

Hesitating at first, Riley took the proffered hand and seemed to wilt in relief when he felt Jake's 108 degree warm-blooded handshake.

"I'm Jake," he said with a smile. "Let's get you inside."

"I'll get you something to eat," Esme invited. "You look hungry."

Her invitation startled him. The woman sounded like his mother...but she was one of Them... she was offering to feed him? He felt a shiver run down his spine and over the backs of his legs. His knees were weak. Was it a trick?

A path opened to the door, and Jake put his hand on Riley's shoulder and drew their guest into the house where he was seated on a new looking sofa despite his filthy clothes. Everyone filed in through the front door to stand or sit around him while they brought him a plate piled high with food. Steak and potatoes, green beans, corn and salad...homemade rolls...pie? His eyes widened at the amount of food set before him. His stomach had shrunk to nothing...no way could he eat this much...but he was willing to give it a helluva try. They scooted the coffee table closer for his use. No one questioned him or spoke to him while he wolfed down the food as if he hadn't eaten in days...which he hadn't. He felt a little self conscious, but the need to survive commanded him. He stuffed the rolls in his pocket to take back. They wouldn't spoil. He could share them with the others.

As he scraped his plate clean, a little boy, who looked like he was five or six years old, broke loose from his mother's hand and came over to him. Shyly, the child offered his toy truck for Riley's inspection. He stopped eating and took the the little red truck...turning it over and over in his filthy hands. He looked up at this odd mixture of humans and vampires...with children who had toys... who were clean, and well fed and wandering around as free as little birds...not a mark on them...no bruises, no needle marks... no bite marks. A beautiful blonde vampire was holding a human baby on her hip. When the baby began to fret, she put the knuckle of her index finger in its mouth. He realized the baby was teething and her finger was cold and soothing to its gums...My God! He thought in absolute horror... A vampire was raising a human baby! He came to some amazing conclusions.

"Thank you," he said softly to the little boy who took the truck and ran back to hide behind Edward. The tall vampire picked the child up and set him on his shoulders which made the child shriek with laughter.

Riley stared at them for a moment and then finished his pie, upending the glass of cold milk and draining it to the last drop. Only God knew when he would get to eat again. Where in the hell did they get milk, he wondered... and how did they keep it so cold. He hadn't had a glass of cold milk since before the plague.

"We have a cow, and we produce our own electricity from a turbine on the river," Edward told him.

His statement startled Riley, but he tried not to show it.

The vampire who sounded like his mother asked him if he would like more.

"No, thank you," he told her and handed her his empty plate. "But that was very good. I haven't eaten in a while. Most of our food goes to the women." His stomach ached, and he knew he had eaten too much, but he fought back nausea determined to keep the life sustaining food where it belonged.

Carlisle moved forward and sat down in a wing backed chair across from Riley...he was careful to move slowly and speak softly.

"What are the terms?"

Riley cleared his throat. "I was told to say that if Edward and Alice agree to join the guard, he will spare all of you, but if they refuse, he will sacrifice one of his humans a day until he has killed all of the expendables. And then he will come to destroy all of you. He also said, if you have any survivors, he wants those as well. I'm supposed to take them back to him when I leave...the survivors that is."

"Who are the expendables?" Jasper wanted to know.

"That's what he calls the females who haven't conceived. And most of the males since he only needs a few of us."

"Where are they?" Jake snarled..."Where is the son of a bitch keeping them?"

"They're in Seattle...he's using the county jail to keep us confined until after he's finished with his business here. Most of them are in bad shape...anemic. Just the plane ride over was hard on them.

"How many?" Carlisle asked him.

Riley hesitated... distrust shimmering in his eyes.

"It's okay," Jake reassured him... " These folks only drink animal blood...he wants to help them."

"There were twenty-five at first...in Italy, but three were killed, so that left twenty-two in his herd...that's what he calls us. Fifteen of the women are pregnant.

Rose handed her baby to Emmett. Everyone's eyes widened when they next saw her sitting on the sofa beside Riley. His body jerked back against the couch in terror as she took his dirty hand and held it gently with her perfectly manicured fingers.

Looking into his uneasy eyes, she asked him, "How were they conceived?"

"W...What?"

"How were the babies conceived?"

A tense silence filled the room.

"Rape," he said bitterly...as if it were a personal confession. He bowed his head over their clasped hands and shuddered. He couldn't even look into her eyes as a thousand horrific memories ran through his mind. All he could do was tremble in her cold grasp.

Rosalie nodded slowly...solemnly and arose from the sofa, crossing the room and taking her baby gently back into her arms. She walked at human speed over to the rocker where she put Little Wolf on her shoulder and rocked him. She looked straight ahead, but the shocked onlookers could see murder stewing in her golden eyes. No one said anything for a moment, including Riley.

His mouth twisted into a grimace. What could he say to them? How could he tell them that some of the women who didn't conceive right away had been taken away and never came back...that he was forced to watch as pregnant women were bled with dirty needles and tubes. How many times his own blood had been taken to feed the monsters that held them captive... and the men...forced to do unspeakable things in order to keep the women alive... treated like animals...caged together... no privacy in their filthy cell.

One man refused to impregnate the woman assigned to him, and everyone was forced to watch in absolute horror as three vampires came into their cell and tore him limb from limb...ripping his veins open with their sharp teeth and drinking every single drop of his blood... licking every drop from his lacerated flesh. They had left the scraps of his body to rot in the cell for days. Somebody used a shirt to cover the decapitated head. Aro had told them, the next time someone refused to obey...both the man and the woman herself would be sacrificed...sacrificed he called it.

None of the men... or the women rebelled after that. The monsters that held them had very little control over their insatiable thirst, and every day, he wondered if the monster who brought them scraps of food and a bucket of water would leave the cell without killing them all.

A sound from Edward made him look up in alarm. The tall, bronze haired vampire looked angry enough to kill. A lethal growl rumbled from his throat, as he gently lowered the little boy on his shoulder to the floor. His muscles were coiled into a predatory crouch. Riley knew the outward signs of vampire attack, and he cast an anxious glance at the one called Jake, but he didn't seem at all concerned. An obviously pregnant human girl with long dark hair and chocolate brown eyes stepped over to the growling Edward and lifted her hands to either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. The vampire quit growling and buried his face in the girl's neck inhaling deeply.

Riley half rose from his seat in horror. Was he going to rip her throat out in front of everyone? But when the vampire pulled the girl close to his side and kissed the top of her head, Riley relaxed back onto the sofa...stunned beyond words. They were lovers?

"Resting his chin on the girl's head, Edward said, "This is my wife, Bella. We're very sorry for all that you and the other captives have had to endure. Let me introduce everyone."

He gestured around the room with his long masculine fingers introducing vampire and human alike as if there were no difference between them at all.

"This is my father, Carlisle Cullen," he told Riley at last indicating the blond headed male seated across from him. "I want you to know that we are not entirely like the Volturi...the vampires who have mistreated you and your fellow captives. I know it's hard for you to trust us since many of us are the same kind of creatures as those who hold you captive. We do not rape, nor do we drink human blood." He looked down at his wife who snorted and elbowed his side. "Well, we almost never drink human blood," he smirked, and everybody...human and vampire alike laughed a little."

Riley's massive confusion now had a little cherry on top...he couldn't figure these people out.

"How much time do we have?" Jake asked him.

"Until tomorrow at noon," Riley told them. But I'm to bring any humans you have to the King County jail by 11:00 AM. He wants them secure before he comes after the rest of you...he wants to meet Edward and Alice out in the open. He sounded as if he didn't trust you, but I think he just wants to keep you far away from his blood supply. He gave me this. Pulling out a map that looked as if it had been torn from a book from his pocket, he handed it to Carlisle.

"Yes, I know this place. It's in the middle of the National Park." He handed it to Edward who showed it to Jake.

"He said Edward and Alice must be there at noon tomorrow or he will start killing the ones I left behind..." He stopped for a moment and then added, "I have to tell you something now that will make you think I'm crazy."

"What is it, son?" Carlisle inquired.

Riley hesitated looking around the room before speaking.

"I think you need to know that he has some kind of psychic power...I think Aro can read minds."

He waited for laughter, but got only an indulgent smile from Edward.

" I believe this because he came into our cell and touched my hand yesterday...touched everyone actually...then he told me that since I was from Seattle, I would be the one to go... and here I am. I was captured in England. How did he know I was from Seattle? I went there as a exchange student from Seattle University, but I never told any of them about it."

"I wonder how he knows we have any humans." Edward murmured.

"He doesn't," Carlisle explained. "He just knows me well and hopes I've managed to find a few."

"Well," the doctor said, inhaling deeply and putting his pale hands on his thighs as he prepared to stand. "We have a lot to talk about. Is there anything we can do for you while you're here?"

Riley looked at him blankly.

"I'm a doctor," Carlisle clarified...and you don't look as if you're in the best of health... do you have any medical issues that need attending to? If not, we'll get you cleaned up and into some new clothes.

All of the Cullens knew Carlisle had smelled infection despite their guest's body odor.

Riley's eyes widened...his paradigm of vampire behavior totally exploded by that announcement. After a brief hesitation, he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "Do you have any antibiotics? I could use some for these sores, and I'd like to try to smuggle some medicine in for the others when I go back. They all have these from the dirty needles we use to drain blood. At first, they tried to bleed us, themselves but often lost control, so we have to do it ourselves now to meet their quotas each week..."

Horrified gasps sounded from around the room as he revealed the festering and ulcerated sores that covered the insides of his arms where blood had been drawn repeatedly with needles that weren't sterile. Some of them were severely inflamed... oozing puss and blood.

"Dear Lord!" Carlisle stepped to his side to inspect the badly infected arm. "It's a wonder you haven't developed blood poisoning. Let's get you cleaned up first, and then I'll attend to these."

With that Riley was escorted to Carlisle and Esme's bathroom by Jake while Alice laid out new clothes for him. He could hear the sounds of conversation begin as he left the room. They were already planning.

As he stood in the elegant shower under deliciously hot water after so many months of having barely enough to drink, he tried to wrap his mind around what he had seen and heard. The hot cascade of water stung his arms like fire, but on the rest of his body, it was heaven. He let forbidden thoughts creep into his mind. These strange people sounded as if they wanted to help, but he could plainly see they would be vastly outnumbered. Hope glimmered nonetheless on the distant horizons of his mind like a beautiful but inaccessible mirage. He knew better than to believe in it.

He was alone when he came out of the bathroom. It felt strange to put on clean clothes, but stranger still, was the privacy they allowed him. He had not been unguarded in months unless he counted the time it took him to drive in from Seattle. As he carefully put the flattened rolls into the pocket of his new shirt, the thought crossed his mind that he could make a run for it...maybe save himself. But after a moment of insane temptation, he made his way out of the room and down the long hallway to the top of the stairs. He could hear them talking among themselves as he started down...their soft voices urgent and filled with distress.

"I can't let you do that, Jake." Carlisle was saying. "It's just too dangerous."

"Not the whole pack...just me and Leah and one more...maybe Sam...he's more experienced at this than I am. We'll have to take Leah...Aro will want another female, and let's face it...Sam and I do look pretty potent." He grinned at Leah who rolled her eyes at his lunacy.

"But you'll be locked in with the others," the doctor protested.

Jake smirked and exchanged glances with Edward who was smiling.

"I think I know what he has in mind, Carlisle," he said. "It just might work...if they don't notice the smell, that is and if he doesn't touch them." He turned to Riley coming down the stairs, and they brought their discussion to a close.

"I can deal with that," Jake told them darkly.

"I don't think it's wise to say much more right now...Riley has a head full of information about us already, and Aro is probably depending on that, so maybe, no insult intended, Riley, we should keep our plans to ourselves. The less Riley knows, the less Aro will know." Edward cautioned.

"Come on in, and let me see those infected arms," Carlisle told him.

After his arms were treated and bandaged, Carlisle picked up several syringes that he had prepared on a metal tray and gave him three injections. He patiently explained the purpose of each one as he administered antibiotics, B-12 and a tetanus booster... all salvaged for Bella before they ruined at the hospital for Bella. Riley sat impassive and unflinching as he watched the needles pierce his skin.

"Now, tell us everything you know," Jake encouraged him. First, how many of them came to Seattle and exactly where in Seattle are they staying. You say the survivors are in the jail..."

"It's been hard to do a accurate count, but I think there are somewhere around thirty of them. I tried to count on the plane. I don't think he left any back in Italy. Aro killed one of them for attacking a woman while he was on guard duty. I saw that. After that only one of them, Marcus, I think they called him, guarded us. He isn't as brutal as the others. Three others disappeared a couple of months ago. They all seem afraid of Aro. I don't know where they are staying...probably somewhere around the courthouse. He never goes anywhere without a little female and a young male by his side. I don't know why that is, but the others seem afraid of those two vampires as well."

"How did you learn this if they kept you in a cell all the time." Jasper wanted to know.

Hearing the suspicion in his voice, Riley shrugged. He looked around the crowded living room.

"You really shouldn't trust me, you know. What if I'm here to betray you in exchange for my life? Did you even think of that?"

"But you're not." Edward stated emphatically.

"No, I'm not. In fact, I think that's one of the reasons, he sent me. He knew I couldn't abandon the others. He knew I would come back. I'll tell you what little I know. Sometimes at my insistence, they let us out into the sun a few minutes each day. I told them we had to have some sunlight or the babies would be stillborn...that's when I studied them. Aro has been trying to train the others to control their thirst. He required them to watch us when we were outside. They would stand and look at us with those red eyes as we walked around the square ...you don't have red eyes...is that something to do with the fact that you drink animal blood?"

"Yes, it is." Carlisle replied.

"What else can you tell us?" Jasper prompted but the suspicion was gone from his voice.

"Not much else...except that they will kill some of us... if Edward and Alice don't show up by noon tomorrow, innocent people will die."

"Don't worry, we'll work something out...I'm just sorry that you have to go back." Alice reassured him.

"It's no more than I deserve," his voice trailed off miserably...if you knew..."

Edward interrupted him, "We know you've done what you had to do in order to stay alive and keep as many of the others alive as you could. That's all we need to know. Go get some rest...take a walk...get some more food and don't worry. I think we have some plans to make and you don't want to know anything about them."

"Come on, Riley." Bella took his hand and led him outside into the sunshine. Johnny and Missy trailed after them. They walked towards the river. Edward watched them go, glad Bella wouldn't hear what they were planning to do tomorrow. She would find out soon enough.

"No one can stay here tomorrow," Alice told them. He may decide to send a few of the guard here while we go to Seattle. He's thinking about it as part of his plans...or he's just messing with me...hard to say at this point. Best to play it safe."

Jake and Edward exchanged glances. They didn't like it, but what choice did they have?

"What about the children?" Rose demanded. " We can't take them into a battle with us?"

"I recommend we send them north with the Tanya and Seth until we finish this business. Bella and Rachel should hide at the hospital in Forks until Leah gets there with Aro's survivors. By then it will have been decided one way or another. It would be more dangerous to take them with us this time since we're so outnumbered. If nobody shows up, they can drive up and join Seth and Tanya in Alaska. That way they'll at least have a chance at survival. If we fail, they'll die with us."

"If we all show up in the park, it will be an immediate battle. He only wants Edward and Alice," Esme asked.

"Aro's a city boy," Edward said. "It's been centuries since he's played in the big outdoors. Let me tell you about a little trick Bella pulled on me a few weeks ago..." he went on to explain how he thought they might be able to defeat the Volturi and save the survivors at the same time."

They all listened intently knowing how dangerous the plan would be. If the slightest thing went awry, all of them would be lost. They were outnumbered three to one... ten of them against at least thirty members of the guard... not to mention Alec who could render them all senseless with his powers. But they had the wolves, and Aro certainly didn't know about that. Jake added several ideas to the plan, and Jasper polished the details of the strategy. It would be tricky, but it just might work...it had to work.

At least, that's what Edward told Bella that night when they went up to bed. She just glared at him with tears in her eyes.

"You promised me..." she accused him slapping his hand away when he tried to comfort her. "You said you wouldn't leave."

"And I'll keep my promise...trust me." He gave her his best crooked smile and waited for her usual reaction.

"I'm going to ask for another promise," she said carefully as he lifted her and settled her into bed with him. He turned her so that her back was to him. He pulled her back into his chest reaching around to spread the long fingers of one hand over her distended belly.

"Anything," he breathed in her ear.

"If it looks like it's going wrong, promise me...run away from the battle and come to me...swear to me that you won't let them take me alive. I don't want our baby to …." her voice trailed off in a stifled sob unwilling to put her fear into words.

He closed his eyes to hide the anguish that made his dead heart ache in his chest.

"I promise," he whispered listening to the sound of her heart begin to slow as she calmed.

She turned to read the truth in his golden eyes. Her warm hand traced his hard jaw, and she seemed to settle peacefully against him nuzzling his neck, kissing his chin, his mouth, his cheek.

The smell of her arousal bloomed around him like the sweetest perfume.

"Drink some of my blood tonight," she begged him softly. Just a little to make you stronger tomorrow...please."

"No, Bella. The baby..."

"The baby won't miss a little blood...and you know how instantly I heal...just a little..."

"No, I hunted yesterday...I don't even need it."

"But I want you to do it.." she pleaded. "I want you to have some of me inside you when you go into battle. It might be the last time..."

He stroked her hair with shaking hands. "There's no need..."

"I need..." she murmured and slowly, surely she won him from his resolve as he pulled back the covers and removed her clothes as gently as if she were a newborn baby herself. He stroked the naked mound of her belly, thanking God that she had been so disgustingly healthy throughout her strange pregnancy.

He suckled sweetly at her swollen breasts and imagined them full of mother's milk for their child. The thought of it...of his child drinking from her aroused him more than anything he thought possible.

Starting with one hand wrapped gently around her throat, he stroked the length of her body down her neck to her shoulder and side... to her rounded hips...both hands smoothing the long slender legs that moved so restlessly against him.

Her body arched as he knelt on the bed and pull her thighs up and over his shoulders. He dipped his head to feast... holding her hips up and open with his powerful arms. He growled as the beginnings of her orgasm begin to ripple through her and opened her thighs even wider so he could relish the powerful clenching spasms around his tongue... over and over while she groaned his name and shuddered against him violently. He could smell small bruises forming on her hips where his fingers held her a little too tightly. He knew the bruises would be gone before she awoke in the morning.

When she went limp in his grasp, he carefully lowered her legs and crawled up her body entering her still throbbing core as far as he could reach into the tightened sheath.. holding his weight away from her belly, he began to move...slowly at first and then more powerfully as she climbed once again towards a even higher summit of ecstasy... with him inside her this time, her legs tight around his waist, her inner muscles clamping down on him as he shouted his completion. With venomless teeth, he bit down on her throat where he had marked her that first time and immediately spent himself again deep inside her... drinking a small amount of her irresistibly sweet blood, and holding her steady as they rode the swirling eddies of their passion back down to the earth once more.

Sealing the small wound with a lick and a tender kiss, he unwrapped her legs from his waist and gathered her close.

She sighed. She slept.

He lay in the darkness beside her and wondered if that was the last time he would ever make love to her. The plan for tomorrow had to work. He couldn't even consider the alternative if it didn't.

Could he keep his promise to her if it came to that? If they were about to lose? Unthinkable...but if she were captured...to live like those other poor souls... he had listened to Riley's memories of Aro's treatment of his captives, and he knew he would never let Bella be condemned to such an existence.

Yes, he would keep his promise...if all else failed...if he saw they were going to lose.

He was not a particularly religious person. There were those who believed he didn't even have a soul, but he found himself praying, for the first time since he had been changed, whispering softly the words of _The Lord's Prayer. _It was the only prayer he knew. It comforted him somehow, and he was able to spend the rest of the night going over and over the plan for tomorrow while at the back of his mind, he kept hearing those familiar words, 'Deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil...' If there was a God watching over this plague ridden, monster infested world, Edward hoped He was paying attention.

…...

Across the dark yard, the lights went out in Sam and Leah's house. Sam checked the door and went in to bed. Joey and Missy were already asleep, cuddled together in the middle of the big bed...Leah lay beside them. Leah could feel him pulling back the covers and easing into the big bed.

He lay quietly for a moment.

"Leah?" he said in the dark.

"Yes."

"I don't like the idea of letting the kids go with Seth and Tanya tomorrow, but I don't see any way around it."

"Me either... Seth will keep them safe...you know that."

"I don't like the idea of you going with me and Jake either."

She made no reply. It was the first time he had ever said anything to her that sounded remotely as if he cared.

"You know those monsters want women. Better me than Bella or Rachel. Look on the bright side," she said turning away from him. "Maybe one of them will kill you and then you'll finally have what you want...or if they kill me, you'll finally be rid of me."

"You're a such a bitch." His voice was low...vibrating with anger.

"That's me," she said bitterly. "just a female dog...a bitch. I'm not a real human lady like Emily with with her smiling face and prissy ways...just a dog to be used and then kicked to the curb when my usefulness is over."

"Sometimes, I hate you, you know that?"

"Sometimes? Just sometimes? Well, that's really great...at least you're beginning to feel something besides self pity."

"I feel plenty," he growled softly. He got out of the bed and left the room. And Leah started to let him go, but for some reason, maybe it was the devil in her... or maybe it was because they might both be death by the end of the day tomorrow, she followed him. He was sitting on the couch in the living room with his head in his hands.

"Come in here to feel sorry for yourself?"

"I came in here to get away from you. I know what you're trying to do."

"What's that?"

"Get me mad enough to lose control...don't you know I could hurt you?"

"I think I can take care of myself."

"You need to quit disrespecting Emily. I won't put up with that. You keep taking swipes at her and you may wish you hadn't."

"Was she so perfect?" An echo of an old agony crept into her voice.

"She was to me."

"Really?" She pulled out her weapon of mass destruction. There would be no going back after this. "Then what did she do to make you mad enough to ruin that pretty face... if she was so perfect?"

"Don't go there, Leah...I'm warning you."

"Why not? What do I have to lose? You already hate me. Did she cheat on you? Did she threaten to leave you? What did perfect Emily do to make you phase that close to...?"

He was on her before she had a chance to finish what she was saying. His big hand had her by the throat, and he was backing her up against the wall. She could hardly breathe, but she knew better than to struggle against his painful grip. He vibrated against her as he were on the verge of phasing.

"You want to know how she got that scar? I'll tell you...and then maybe you'll quit putting me through this Hell. I phased the first time we made love." Tears filled his black eyes and rolled down his face but he didn't even seem to notice them as he spat the words in Leah's face. "Yes, that's right...while we were...God help me...I did that to her...I scarred her for life, my claws laid her cheek open to the bone and almost took out her eye. I put that scar on her while I was ... but, you know what? She loved me anyway. She sat in that emergency room while that damn butcher stitched her up because I was too damn proud to let Carlisle do it right... and she told me it was okay, that she forgave me. She loved me anyway... She even persuaded me to come back to her bed...she took that risk again and again and again just to make love to me...so...yes...she was perfect...the most perfect woman I've ever known."

He released Leah and she slumped with shock against the wall as he returned to the couch burying his head in his hands wiping his wet face with hands that shook. His sharp blade of a face, made even more angular by the shadows, as he stared across the dark room at her. The silence was thicker than the darkness as they watched each other.

"Why didn't she have plastic surgery?" she asked softly rubbing her bruised throat. We all wondered. Why did she carry that scar around like some badge of honor when she could have had it fixed?"

He shook his head wearily.

"I don't know. I tried to get her to go to a doctor in Seattle, but she refused. She wouldn't tell me why."

"I would have had the plastic surgery, Sam. I wouldn't have wanted you to look at that scar everyday of your life and be reminded of what was just an accident. I wouldn't have wanted you to bear the guilt and the shame of it. I would have had the plastic surgery...for you."

He looked at her blankly. He had never really thought too much about why Emily didn't get her face fixed. He had been too busy trying to make it up to her...trying to reassure her that he loved her despite the disfigurement. Like the straightforward man he was, Sam had never been one to waste time analyzing emotions.

"Emily was pretty," Leah told him softly.

"Even with the scar," he murmured.

"But I grew up with her, Sam. She was always insecure about her looks. She was good to me after you imprinted on her, but she always worried you would come back to me...she told me so. I tried to explain how impossible that was...I tried to tell her how imprinting worked, but she still worried...until..."

"Until?"

"Until after you scarred her. She owned you with that scar, Sam. She controlled you with it. The guilt...the shame...tell me...did you ever refuse her anything after that?"

He looked at Leah strangely as if caught up in an old memory. "She told me once that now that I had marked her as mine, I could never leave her." His voice sounded distant and confused. "But why would she worry about me leaving her...It would have been impossible."

"Maybe because she suspected something about me."

"What? You acted as if you hated me after the break-up. You were no threat to her."

"I think she suspected something about me that no one...not even the pack knew."

"What?"

She looked down at her bare feet hesitating because she knew she was about to cross a bridge to nowhere and burn it behind her.

"I think she knew that I imprinted on you, Sam...years ago when we were just kids. You never knew. You never guessed."

"No.."

"Yes."

"But the pack would have known..."

"Before they started phasing..not likely."

"But later.."

"Anger hides a lot of emotions, Sam. I had been hiding it for years...I'm good at hiding it."

He stared at the floor for a long time before he spoke.

"I don't have anything to give you, he said without looking up...I'm broken inside, Leah. I don't want to feel anything for anybody. It hurts too much when they're gone."

She went to him, knelt beside him and waited until he raised his head to look into her eyes.

"I know how bad it hurts, Sam. I loved her too, but we're alive and she's not. That's what living is all about. We pay a price for every good thing that comes our way. But don't tell me you don't have anything to give me. If you're broken, give me the broken pieces and I'll make do with that. I'll never be able to replace Emily, but I love you. I've loved you since we were in the third grade. I will always love you. I'll be anything you want me to be...just don't give up on yourself out of some sense of guilt over Em's death. She would never have wanted that."

"I don't love you..." he said darkly... but I want you. I've always wanted you. Every night I lay down beside you and smell you and hear you breathing and see you in the darkness watching me. I remember how it was with us before the imprint. I get so hard I could explode, but I don't touch you...that's my punishment for wanting someone besides Emily...I don't love you, but I do want you." He made it sound like the most shameful confession.

"That's okay. I love you enough for both of us."

"You deserve better than this."

"Let me decide what I deserve...I know what I want...what I've always wanted."

He leaned forward and caught her shoulders drawing her up to him and kissing her with the angry hunger of a man who had been alone in the dark for a very long time...the hunger of a man who was cold and just wanted a warm place to rest. Pushing her down to the carpet, he began to take off his shirt.

"It's been a while, I might be.."

"It's okay," she said. I won't break. If you hurt me, I'll heal...I always have...You'll be fine...don't worry."

He was rough and awkward in his urgency, but she didn't care. It had been so long, and he was everything she had ever wanted. If there were tears on his cheeks after it was over, she pretended not to notice holding him close and bearing his heavy weight while he wept for another woman.

Finally, he raised his head and stared down at her with something like terror... or was it guilt in his eyes.

"I want you again," he told her, and pulled her leg up over his hips already moving against her again still as hard as when he first started.

"Take what you want," she whispered darkly in his ear and arched into his thrust.

They might die tomorrow, but at least she had this one night. It was enough.

…...

The next morning, Jake met Emmett coming down the stairs.

"I bet every this whole settlement got laid last night. What about you, Bro. Get any last night?"

"You ought to know, you're the one with the magic ears."

"Well, I have to say, I was a bit distracted but not so distracted that I didn't hear you howling at the moon."

Jake gave him a sideways grin and popped his shoulder hard.

"Ouch!"

"Keep your bat sonar to yourself, Leach!"

Emmett laughed and howled at the top of his lungs like a wolf.

Jacob couldn't help but laugh too.

It had been an interesting night.

When he told Rachel that she and Bella were staying at the hospital in Forks while they went to meet the Volturi, she had totally flipped out. He had never seen her that furious...except when she beat up Emmett that time, of course. After he had explained the plan, she had stomped off to bed without a single word. He had heard the door to their room slam so hard the house shook.. which didn't exactly please him, but there was something about the little snick of their door being locked from the inside that set him off.

He had been riding a roller coaster of emotions all day anyway, and when she locked him out of their bedroom, it was the final straw. He had stormed up the stairs to the amusement of the whole pack who were watching a DVD of Terminator 2. They snickered at him as he stormed up the stairs which he did not find amusing either...

Shit! He was the Alpha and here his mate... was treating him like a puppy who had just wet the floor. He didn't bother to knock. He gave the door a hard shove with his shoulder and the lock tore loose from the frame. He could vaguely hear Esme yelling from the kitchen that he would be fixing that door in the morning as he pushed his way into the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Get out!" she yelled at him from the bed where she had thrown herself to have a good little cry as if she were the injured party here.

"I don't have to get out." he growled at her. This is my room and you're my wife...you will not ever lock me out of my own bedroom. Is that clear?"

She picked up a book from the nightstand and hurled it at his head. He dodged the missile, but just as she was trying to get her hands on the lamp to throw, he jumped to stop her. He grabbed her feet and pulled her towards the foot of the bed even though she was kicking and screaming at him to get out the whole time. Once her legs were secure, he climbed up her struggling body pulling her legs around his hips and holding her down. She slapped and scratched and cursed him until he caught her flailing arms by the wrists and pulled them above her head. Immobilized, she tried her best to buck him off of her by arching and squirming with all the strength in her body. Then she really started playing dirty.

"The baby!"

"I'm not touching your belly. All my weight is resting square on your pelvis." And it was true, despite the violence with which he restrained her, he had been careful to support his upper weight with his own arms and there was obviously plenty of daylight between her stomach and his chest. Ah... but the feel of his pelvis pressing so heavily against her ….the way it made her insides ache and clench like a tightly closing fist... her weakness for him drove her to new fury.

"I hate you!" she hissed at him.

"No, you don't," he grinned at her. "And if you don't stop squirming like a hot worm in ashes, I'm going to show you just how much you don't hate me."

She could feel his sex lengthening and growing hard as she moved against him once more trying to get free.

It. Was. So. Hard.

And she could feel his breath quicken as his grin slowly faded...replaced by the intense look of a man on the slippery edge of ….rape? Could a man rape his own wife? Hmmm something to think about...later...much later.

"I won't stay behind while you go fight those monsters...I want to be with you...if the worst happens," she whispered...her blue eyes full of fresh tears.

"You'll do as you're told. You keep you ass at the hospital in Forks with Bella where you and the baby will at least have a chance if..."

"I'll follow you if you leave me."

"No! Not if I have to tie you up before I leave...you will submit to me in this or.."

"Bella will untie me...I won't stay."

"Tell me you'll stay. Promise me now or else."

"Or else what?"

He looked at her a long moment and then released her hands and began to strip her clothes from her body. She tried to stop him squealing in outrage...slapping at his hands, but he was undeterred and soon she lay naked and outraged on their bed. With powerful hands, he flipped her to her stomach and pulled her pelvis back so that she was half kneeling with her butt stuck in the air. Without warning he slammed into her.

Shock!

But then he quit moving, just as she felt that too tight feeling begin to throb and pulse demanding that he move even deeper, he just quit moving. She tried to push back into his body... to maximize the feeling. They had never done it this way before. The feeling was exquisite...with him leaning over her back and biting her throat and shoulders...that so sensitive place on the tendon that ran from her shoulder blade up to her neck. His hands came around her and caught her sensitive nipples rolling them simultaneously and pulling them down away from her chest. Oh! It hurt so very good...but he still did not move...holding deep inside her...hard...covering her with his big, powerful body...biting that tendon over and over...breathing his hot breath along her neck. It was more than she could bear and it reduced her to begging.

"Please, Jake..." she moaned pushing back against him encouraging him to move against her.

But he just continued to pull at her nipples and nip and bite his way across her shoulders and back to her neck again At one point, he paused to suck the flesh there for several seconds which she knew would leave a visibly mark for everyone to see. Yet...that heated her blood even more. All anger was forgotten. If he would only move. She pulsed, she throbbed, she shivered, she begged, but he held her immobile as his hardness throbbed and twitched inside her. He groaned once and thrust deeper letting his control slip for a moment, but caught himself and stopped moving again.

"Oh God!" she groaned low in her throat. "Please Jake...don't do this to me, she pleaded as her inner muscles...the only thing she could move continued to bear down on his hard length.

Sweat dripped from his forehead onto her back...she could feel the warm drops...little testimonies to the high price of his self control.

"You know what I want."

"No...no..."she protested.

"Say it! Promise me!"

"Please!"

Then to her horror, he began to withdraw from her. It was unthinkable...She scooted back as much as she could to stop him..only the twitching head of his penis lingered at her entrance."

"If that's the way you want it..." he growled.

"I won't go...I'll stay...anything...please...I swear...I promise," she babbled like a lovesick monkey.

He slammed back inside her with low growl. Holding her hips against him, he rode her hard...one large hand around the back of her neck holding her down as he swept her breasts, sides and ass with his other hand.

She came undone...her orgasm clenching him so hard, it made her grunt with the deep, powerful spasms..over and over and over closing on him as if she would absorb him into herself forever. With a long, loud groan that surely could be heard all the way to Seattle, he emptied himself inside her so deep in this position...a hard knot forming at the base of his penis which prevented him from withdrawing as he pushed and pushed and pulsed and pulsed inside her taking her over the edge one more time.

When he was completely empty, he tried to pull out of her, but it was impossible with the swollen area lodged so deeply. Not wanting to hurt her, he turned them to their sides in one careful movement and they lay breathing hard and looking amazed at the strange phenomenon that had just occurred. He had notice the slight swelling before, but never so much as to prevent his withdrawal...what the Hell had happened?

"Are you alright?" he asked her worriedly?

"Hmmmmm...just don't move," she warned.

"What the Hell has happened?"

"Oh, don't get all hung up over it, Rover." she giggled.

Her giggling must have done the trick because he popped free.

Examining his still erect apparatus, he frowned. The knot at the base of his penis was clearly visible but growing smaller by the minute. Oh well, he thought..not the strangest thing that ever happened to him, but it sure ranks right up there with phasing.

Rachel was still gigging..

"It's not a laughing matter."

"I really liked it!"

"Really?" he looked to see if she was joking.

"Really...it hit all the right places.." she purred.

"I'm sorry for ...you know...forcing you." He leaned over her as he whispered his apology.

"You do fight dirty, Jacob Black. I promised and I'll stay. But you had better come back to me in one piece, you hear me or I'll have to..."

"I thought I just showed you the hazards of not submitting to the Alpha of the pack."

"Show me again...I'm a slow learner." she reached her arms up to him and smiled.

And he did...

…...

"Hey, Jake?" Emmett socked him on the arm to get his attention.

"Huh?"

"Where you at, Man? I was just saying I heard you howling at the moon."

"Hey," Jake said absently to the vampire. "Remind me to pick up a lock for a door when we get to Forks today."

Yes, it had definitely been an interesting night.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

"Tell him we're going to agree to his terms," Edward told Riley later that morning. He was interrupted by the sound of a truck pulling up to the front door.

"That will be Jake." Edward flitted out to where Jake and Sam and Leah were climbing out of a a big F-150.

Riley followed. He had the antibiotics Carlisle had given him in the pockets of his new jacket. Alice had also supplied him with a supply of nutrition bars in a tote for him to take back to the others. He paused as he got into the car. They obviously weren't going to send all the humans, but he hoped Aro would be satisfied thinking they had. The children were nowhere to be found. He wondered where the Cullens were hiding them...not that he blamed them. He would have done the same thing.

Obviously, Jake and his two friends were sacrificing themselves to save everyone else as were Edward and Alice. He wanted to say he was sorry for being the one to bring this trouble to their door. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he looked at the group gathered around the car and truck for a long moment searching for words that would let them know his sorrow.

"Thank you," was all he could get past his lips.

We'll be right behind you," Jake told him.

Riley looked around at the small assembly on the porch. To Edward he said... "You'll be there?"

"We'll be there...don't worry."

When Riley pulled in at the King County jail with Jake, Leah and Sam behind him in the truck, Aro and most of the guard were waiting for him. He got out and waited for instructions.

"Tell them to get out," Aro ordered.

Riley walked to the driver's side of the truck where Leah sat uneasily, and saw Jake was slumped over...his head on Sam's shoulder and his eyes closed. Blood was everywhere...all over both of the men. Sam had wrapped his shirt around Jake's arm, but blood was still soaking through the make-shift bandage.

"Oh shit!" he breathed in horror. A blood stained knife had been thrown onto the dash and Leah looked angry enough to kill.'

"The idiot tried to kill himself about ten miles back," she explained through the closed window. "Sam stopped him, but he has a nasty cut on the inside of his arm and he's lost a lot of blood."

"What's the problem?" Aro asked as he approached the truck, but then he smelled the blood as soon as the truck door was opened.

"Stay back!" the vampire yelled in panic. Some of the other members of the guard were curious enough to move closer to the truck, but at Aro's command, they froze and then retreated to a safer distance.

"One of them tried to commit suicide," Riley told him. " I think he's going to be alright. His friends stopped him before he could finish the job, but they're covered in blood."

"Unfortunate," Aro murmured suspiciously. "Come closer, Riley Biers and let me touch you then."

At his command, Riley walked over to Aro who took his hand and closed his red eyes for a few seconds.

"Ah, I see...I'm pleased Edward and Alice have agreed to join us...but they didn't send all the humans as I demanded in the terms I sent, did they? No matter, I knew they would try to deceive us...counted on it, in fact. Now, I have no choice but to destroy them all. Their deception will not save the humans they're hiding and now they have signed their own death warrants with this deception."

"They sent all their humans, I swear," Riley started to say, but Aro turned on him in a flash.

"Do you dare lie to me human? I can read your every thought. I know they are hiding others...I can see them in your memory...what fools to sacrifice their precious Edward and Alice for the sake of cattle. Poor Carlisle, ever the tender heart, he even sent medicine and food for the herd...Pathetic! Take these four to the cell, Marcus...and stay well back from them until they get that blood cleaned up."

With that Sam and Leah pulled Jake out of the truck cab and half carried him between them as Marcus led the way down to the holding tank where the other waited.

"Stay with the herd, Marcus. I'm taking the guard with me to collect our prizes...I'm sure Carlisle has a few more tricks left up his sleeve. We'll be back in little over an hour. With that, he summoned his guard, and they were gone.

As they walked down the corridor to the holding tank, the first thing, they noticed was the putrid stench. Some of the prisoner stood as the door was unlocked by the vampire, but most of them sat or lay where they were turning listless eyes in their direction with faint interest. The obvious source of the fetid smell was a communal latrine bucket in one corner of the cell. The cell had an overflowing commode and a filthy sink, but clearly no running water. Someone had tried to cover the bucket and the commode with pieces of cardboard. Two buckets just inside the door...perhaps for food and water...were empty. Jake and his pack mates walked through the cell door and heard it slam shut behind them.

"It's a good thing I don't have to breathe...you smell like dogs," Marcus complained at the newcomers, but all the same he stared intently at the blood on Sam and Jake... inhaling deeply once and then moving away.

"Could you bring some water to clean him up?" Riley asked deferentially, trying not to provoke him.

"Not until Aro returns," the vampire snapped at him and went to stand at the outer door.

Sam lowered Jake to the filthy floor, and they waited.

Riley walked over to the others talking quietly...checking on this one and that one. Sharing the medicine and the energy bars he had brought with him... giving most of it to the pregnant women. After dividing up all the food and meds, he went back over to Jake, Sam and Leah and sat on the floor.

"Has the bleeding stopped? Here's my shirt if you want to use it to make a cleaner bandage. He took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt handing it to Sam who ripped it into bandage strips. Leah carefully removed Sam's bloody shirt from around Jake's arm. In the split second before she got the first strip of bandage in place, Riley saw the wound that had been bleeding so profusely not five minutes ago.

It was almost completely healed!

His eyes widened and his mouth opened as he prepared to ask how such a thing could be. Then, Jake opened one eye, winked at him and flashed a wicked grin.

"How..."

"Shhhhhh!" Leah hissed and cut her eyes to the monster at the door.

When they were fairly sure Aro and the Guard had left the area, all three of the pack members stood up and took off their clothes, to Riley's utter amazement. Naked, the three of them walked to the door of the cell.

Marcus sighed wearily wondering vaguely why the newcomers had removed their clothes and what it was they wanted. He hated talking to them... one did not talk to one's dinner. He didn't like to think of them as being sentient creatures at all...just cattle...something to satisfy his eternal thirst while he waited for true death and could be with his beloved wife. He turned his back to them sending what he thought was a clear message that whatever they wanted, he was not interested, but he had no more than turned when he heard several small explosions behind him. Whirling around, he was stunned to see three very large wolves the size of horses grasping the steel bars of the cell door with their immense jaws and tear them aside as if they were made of nothing more than string cheese. Where there had been a cell door, there was now a huge gaping hole. The wolves were through the opening and upon him before he could tear the outer door open wide enough to escape. He heard panicked screams from the other humans in the cell and felt sharp fangs at his throat, arms and legs. Then pain the likes of which he hadn't felt since the death of his Didyme...

"Yessssss...," he breathed as they took him down. He didn't even bother to defend himself.

With a sizzling pop, the wolves metamorphosed into human form again. Sam stepped back into the cell and grabbed their clothes, tossing them to Leah and Jake.

"We have to take the body parts with us. Put the torso and limbs in the trunk of the car, but I want his head in that tote Alice sent with Riley," Jake told Sam as he pulled on his pants. "We'll burn them later." To Riley who stood like a frozen statue watching the slaughter of their jailor, he ordered,

"Don't just stand there." Get the others outside. We have to get them as far from here as we can before those leaches get back."

Riley still didn't move...his mind was disconnected from reality...he was still trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed.

"Did I stutter? " Jake barked at him impatiently. " Move it, Man!"

Riley was spurred to action by the sharp words. He calmed the alarmed group of wretched captives and move them out of the cell, up the hall and to the door.

After Jake and Sam checked to see if the coast was clear, he herded them to the vehicles. They could get everyone in the two vehicles, but it would be a tight squeeze. Some of the women were so weak, they had to be helped into the truck bed. Those who wouldn't fit in the truck crammed themselves into the car. Leah got behind the wheel of the truck.

Sam stripped out of his pants and tied them to his leg.

Leah knew what they were going to do...race for the rendez-vous point in hopes of getting there in time to help with the battle. The Cullens, and their cousins and the rest of the pack all together would be hard pressed to survive the upcoming fight. She knew the plan was to stall as long as possible before the attack so Jake and Sam could get there. Sam stepped to the open window of the truck and reached his arm in to grab her around the neck. His eyes moved over her face hungrily and he pulled her lips to his for a brief hard kiss.

"Hell, Sam...time for that later," Jake growled tying his pants to his right leg.. He put the tote bag with Marcus' head in it over his neck, phased and took off.

"Be safe," was all Sam told her and then whirled phasing midair and was gone.

"You too," she murmured mostly to herself, and hitting the gas, she took off after Riley who was already heading down the street. She caught up to with him within seconds. They headed for Forks careening around corners and zigzagging around abandoned cars so fast the passengers packed two deep the back of the truck had to hold on for dear life. Good thing they were packed like sardines.

…...

Meanwhile, Aro and the guard had arrived in the small clearing where Edward and Alice waited. He couldn't smell the others, so he figured the two really meant to sacrifice themselves for the good of the family. He advanced until he was about twenty yards away from them and then stopped.

Edward spoke first reading the vampire's mind.

"No, Carlisle and the rest of the family didn't come with us. Can you smell them? We're outnumbered three to one and Alice isn't the only one who could predict the outcome of such a contest. Better that my sister and I join your guard than risk having the whole family slaughtered."

"Ah, but what about the other terms, my dear boy?"

"What other terms?"

"You sent me three human survivors...we both know there are at least eight others that you didn't send. Surely, you would realize Riley brought that information with him. What did you think? That I would allow you to keep such a valuable treasure as those three females?"

"We figured you would settle for three humans and the two of us...why be greedy. Think of the possible casualties if you insist on a confrontation. We couldn't stand by and watch you kill our family. We would have to intervene. You would have to kill us too. On the other hand, if you content yourself with us and the humans we sent you...think of the power you would have...with me by your side, you would know what your guard is thinking all the time... without even touching them. Think of having the power to see the future. You would be a god with such powers. If you insist on going to Forks to fight Carlisle over a few puny humans, you would lose us and perhaps half your guard."

"Ah, Edward. I don't think I would lose any of my guard...or you for that matter. With my beloved Alec and his powers, we could simply anesthetize all of you and kill as we choose.

"But if you destroy our loved ones, would we serve you willingly? I think not."

"If your compliance ensured better living conditions and treatment for the humans in my herd, I think you both would be willing enough. Check and checkmate. Carlisle will give me the humans and the two of you, or he and the rest will die."

"Would you give us a few moments to talk it over?"

"I'll give you five minutes, but do hurry. My brother, Caius smelled wolves as we approached and despite my reassurances that they are harmless, he is quite uneasy...an old phobia, I'm afraid."

Alice and Edward walked at human speed to the opposite side of the clearing. They didn't speak to each other...they were stalling. Edward could tell Jake was very close. After five minutes, he and Alice walked back to their original place and faced Aro and his guard once again.

"We have decided that one of us will go back to Forks and bring the humans." Edward told him.

"Splendid! I think I'll keep Alice with me until you return...Give me your hand, Edward."

"I'll be glad to give you my hand, Aro, but there is one thing I'm curious about...if you don't mind indulging me... why haven't you asked about your beloved Jane... and Felix and Dimitri?"

"Do you dare enrage me now, you upstart? Are you confirming that you somehow destroyed them?

"_He_ killed my sister?" Alec demanded leaving Aro's side and advancing several yards across the field, rage written clearly on his pale face.

"Killed her? No... I took her head, but I didn't burn her... I still have her head." Edward said, fueling the demented grief and fury that drove Jane's twin to rashness as he charged across the small clearing. "In fact, I brought it with me," he taunted the boy. Alice, get the bag." He pointed to a large tree to their left.

"Give it to me...give it to me... we can fix her, Aro!" Jane's twin cried moving closer to Edward as Alice flitted to the tree and removed the tote bag from Jacob's furry neck.

"I smell wolves!" shouted Caius.

"No, Alec...it's a trick," Aro screamed at the boy. "Use your gift...use your gift."

But Alec was beyond rational thought or the ability to focus on anything but getting his hands on that bag.

Edward tossed it to the ground and it rolled towards Alec. He kneeled tearing at the fastenings to open it.

"We can fix her, Aro," he yelled turning to look at the guard. "We can put her back together." His hands were literally fumbling with the bag when Alice stepped behind him and grabbed his arms twisting them behind his back. Edward leaned forward and tore his head from his shoulders throwing it into the trees with such force that it disappeared from sight.

At that precise moment, mayhem broke loose. Pandemonium reigned. Down from the tallest trees, vampires jumped like ninja warriors rappelling without ropes down through the limbs of the trees and landing on the most powerful members of the guard without warning. Never thinking the enemy would come from above them, or that they would actually have to fight since they had Alec, the guard was caught completely unprepared. They panicked and turned to flee. That's when they met the wolves. At that point, they had to fight for the first time in centuries, but their skills were so lacking that it was a fairly easy matter for their enemies to destroy them. The Cullens, on the other hand, had spent their years hunting the animals that fed them...deer, bear and cougar...an activity that had honed their fighting skills to a sharp edge. It was easier than any of them ever thought it would be. The pack kept the guard hemmed in as they tried to escape... killing any that tried to leave the clearing. Renata was one of the first to die since she protected Aro with her gift of deflecting attacks. As soon as Aro realized he was lost, he tried to get away, but Carlisle blocked his escape. From behind, Emmett caught the great leader of the Volturi and held his arms locked behind his back forcing him to his knees.

"My old friend," Aro said looking up at Carlisle as his guard fought and died around him. Surely, you wouldn't harm me. Remember your oath as a doctor...do no harm. I took you in...nurtured and protected you. We were friends once...let me live and we'll work together to rebuild the human race..even if it takes centuries... or let's just agree to disagree and go our separate ways...spare my life, I beg you."

" And have to look over my shoulder for the rest of eternity, I think not. You've sown the wind, now reap the whirlwind." he nodded as Emmett placed a foot in the middle of Aro's back and with a fierce downward movement, ripped both of his arms from their sockets. Simultaneously, Carlisle delivered the coup de grace. Placing one hand under the vampire's jaw and the other one at the back of his neck, he decapitated the monarch of the vampire world with hands that had spent centuries healing, destroying his arch enemy without a drop of remorse or compassion whatsoever knowing he had done no harm but in fact had just done the human race a hell of a lot of good by removing such a bloodthirsty serpent from mankind's fragile new Eden.

Soon, it was all over except for the counting. The fires burned high and Jasper kept going from pyre to pyre trying to account for the various members of the guard.. Finally, he gave up and went to Edward.

"I can't say we got them all in the confusion of combat and everybody's eagerness to burn the pieces. Maybe we should send the wolves to do a sweep? Did you see the head or body of Caius?"

"No, I didn't."

"Oh God! He got away?" Esme looked at Carlisle in alarm.

Alice had been too busy fighting to focus on anything but survival, but at Jasper's words, she drew a deep breath, leaned back against her mate relaxing into a profound trance and focused on her gift. Her eyes closed for a few moments and then flew open in alarm.

"He did escape...he's heading back to Seattle to get his brother and the humans," Alice told them. When he doesn't find them. He'll head to Forks realizing the trick we played on them. He's in a frenzy. He may just kill them all...he hasn't decided what he wants to do except drink blood."

"God! Rachel and Bella," Jake said unable to keep the horrified panic from his voice. "The only protection they'll have is Leah. Seth can hear us, and has already turned around with the kids, but he and Tanya are too far away to get there in time,"

Jake didn't bother to say goodbye. He turned and phased on the fly as he headed back to Forks. Sam was right behind him but within seconds, Edward overtook them both leading the way and leaving the wolves far behind. The last Jake saw of him was a blur of his auburn hair as he zipped through the trees heading west. He had never seen Edward move that fast. The thought occurred to him that he was glad he had never had to fight that particular vampire... his speed alone would mean certain death for anyone who came between him and Bella. Then all coherent thought vanished as he felt his mighty wolf's heart pound almost to the point of bursting with the strain of his flight and the urgency of his need to get to Rachel. He could hear the labored breaths of Sam at his side as he also pushed his body beyond all endurance to get to Leah before she had to put herself between twenty something helpless humans and a vicious, thirst crazed vampire who wanted nothing more than to drain everyone of them. God let them get there in time. Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper set out after them but couldn't begin to keep up.

…...

Riley and Leah had just pulled up to the hospital when Rachel and Bella came running out with wheelchairs.

"They're alright," Leah told them as she helped the weakest of the survivors out of the truck, and both Rachel and Bella knew she was talking not about the survivors, but about Jake and Edward and the rest of the family.

"They destroyed the guard, but we have a new problem. Jake just told me that one of them escaped and is headed here...one called Caius. We have to get everyone inside before he gets here. Hurry!" she wasted no more breath talking as the three women led the exhausted group of mostly pregnant women into the waiting room of the hospital and placed them in seats and chairs around the room.

"What can we do to help?" Bella asked following Leah back out into the parking lot.

Leah looked at her for a moment and seeing the resolve in her eyes, she said grimly. "Edward, Sam and Jake are on the way, but they won't get here in time. Caius will be here any moment according to what Alice told them. Just stay behind me so I..."

She didn't have time to finish what she was going to say because at that moment, Caius appeared in the parking lot. He stood glittering like some evil angel in the bright September sunlight. His skin flashed across them like diamond dust, his red eyes full of malevolent intent, his face twisted into a monstrous expression by his blood thirst and hunger for revenge.

And then he smiled.

All he saw before him was an undefended feast laid out for the taking.

"All mine!" he said.

Leah phased immediately. Her clothes burst from her body and fluttered to the ground behind her as she charged him hoping for some element of surprise, but Caius had seen the wolves during the battle and though he had been fearful of werewolves for centuries, his need for survival sent him forward. He had fought werewolves before...they weren't like the ones he had killed... but all the same, he knew they could be destroyed. He would not let this one wolf stand between him and the blood he craved so badly.

They met midair. Leah's jaws opened at his throat, Caius' powerful hands holding her off until the moment when he could reach around her neck or body and squeeze the life out of her. They hit the ground and rolled over and over on the hard pavement. Digging her hind legs at the vampire's stomach and chest, she tried to find enough purchase to push him into a position of vulnerability. She had fought vampires when she and Sam were wandering in the wilderness, but she had mostly guarded the children while he did the heavy lifting. She had watching him carefully, though, and knew how important it was to avoid the snapping teeth that even now were at her shoulder. Vampire venom would never turn her into one of them, but it was deadly poison to the wolves. One bite and she would die in agony.

She rolled to her back with him on top of her and used her powerful hind legs to push him away. He landed a few yards from her, but was back on his feet and charging almost before she could turn and scramble to turn. This time he landed on her back, his arms squeezing her sides as his teeth bit down on her shoulder. The pain was excruciating, and it weakened her immediately so that she was unable to prevent him from breaking several of her ribs. Unable to breathe.. overpowered and dying, her last thoughts were regrets that she had failed the people she was supposed to protect and that she would never see Sam again. Her death wouldn't destroy him like Emily's and for that she was so grateful. She tried to draw a breath, but the pain of Caius' grip was too much, and she lost consciousness...the sound of Bella's screams were the last thing she heard. She reflexively changed back into human form before her world went dark.

"Caius!," Bella was screaming. "Look at us... she's dead. Look at us!"

He was immediately distracted. The woman and her red haired companion stood not ten feet from where he grappled with the dying werewolf.

"We'll go with you. You can take us and the others... you can have all the blood you want...just for you."

He threw the dead wolf from him and flew to the female who held her arms out to him as if offering him a taste. The scent of her blood was sweeter than any he had ever smelled. Just as he was raising her slender arm to his eager lips, the sound of running feet came to his ears. Several male humans including the one Aro had sent to deliver terms to Forks were racing across the parking lot in his direction. He looked up at them laughing. Did they think to attack him? They fell upon him trying to jerk him away from Bella's arm. He released her momentarily to swat them away like flies. She fell to the ground hard, and the red head grabbed her and helped her to her feet again. The men struck by the vampire flew through the air and landed hard in various places around the parking lot. Most of them were too injured to get up again, but a couple including Riley struggled to their feet and came charging again.

"Fools!" Caius muttered as he faced the two that came at him again. "I hate to waste your blood, but if you're stupid enough to annoy me..."

The next time he backhanded them, they didn't get up...both men lay unconscious several yards away.

Caius turned to the women again. This time, he drew back his hand to decapitate the one with dark hair so he could drink from the fountain that would flow up from her headless neck.

"I'm afraid I've really worked up a thirst, my dear from all this heavy combat," he sneered. "I think I'll just drain you and take the red head and the others with me."

Bella closed her eyes. "Edward..." she breathed.

A strange sound came from behind him just as he prepared to decapitate the shaking girl in his grasp...it was not a human sound or an animal sound...it seemed unearthly in its volume and pitch like the demented howls of a demon set free from Hell itself to wreck havoc on the whole world. The sound reminded him of the frenzied battle cries of the Viking Berserkers... who went mad on the battlefield killing everyone in their path, friend and foe alike. He hadn't heard that sound in several hundred years, and it sent a frisson of terror through his cold, dead heart. Releasing the girl's arm, he turned to meet this new threat. Bella fell to the pavement in the suddenness of her freedom, but Rachel pulled her to her feet trying to get her as far away from Caius as she could.

Caius literally did not see what hit him.

A gray blur rushed past him like a sudden strong breeze and his right arm was gone...another blur swept by and his left arm lay on the pavement. He fell to his knees, his head thrown back as screeching howls of agony burst from his wide open mouth. When his lower jaw disappeared, he tried to stand in order to run, but the creature attacking him returned again and again... faster than he could see even with his vampire vision. Next, the lower half of his right leg was taken. Collapsing once again onto the pavement, he lay screaming as Edward hit him time and time again, taking small pieces of his body with every pass until there was nothing left of the vampire but a head attached to a squirming torso. His clothes, his ears, his eyes, his nose.. and finally even his genitals were all ripped away...gone... tossed into a heap along with his arms and legs. The marvel of it was that it all happened in less than sixty seconds. When there was nothing else to take, Edward stopped and stood over the dismembered vampire saying,

"You tried to take my family, my friends, and my life. For that you will die... but then you tried to take my Bella...my whole world and for that you will die...slowly in agony. I've taken everything I can from you except your life. I plan to take that too. I'm going to burn you with your head still attached so you can feel every moment of your destruction as I turn you into dust."

Jacob and Sam burst on the scene just as Edward straightened and walk calmly over to Bella who stood staring in amazement at his handiwork. He pulled her gently into his arms and buried his face in her neck. Now that it was over, he was shaking harder than she was.

Sam ran to Leah.

"She's breathing! We need Carlisle...fast. She's in bad shape."

"I'm here." Carlisle said right behind him. "Let's get her inside. Take care of what's left of Caius," he told Jasper who had just arrived with Emmett.

Once they had her inside the emergency room, Carlisle went to work.

"She has several cracked ribs, but they're the least of my worries. The hard lick she took on her head may be a concussion, but what really concerns me is this bite on her shoulder. The poison will work its way through her system by morning and as you know it's a deadly toxin to your kind. "

He and Edward exchanged significant looks.

Sam watched them as he leaned protectively over Leah's unconscious body. "Please God, not again...don't make me lose her just when I..." He buried his face in her neck. Tears covered his cheeks when he looked up at Carlisle. "Is there nothing you can do?"

"We can try to suck the venom out before it spreads, if you'll trust us to do it."

"Do it!"

"Sam, you have to understand that a certain amount of blood will come with the venom."

"But can you do it, Carlisle?"

"I'm not sure I would have the control to do it...I was the one who changed each member of the family, but frankly, I've never tasted human blood except to inject venom...there's very little blood involved. Edward is the one who has the most experience ...the most control in this area. I recommend you let him try to get the poison out of her shoulder."

"Do it...now...quit wasting time talking about it and do it...please," he told them.''

"You need to leave the room, Sam. It will be painful for her especially with her ribs. If she regains consciousness, she may phase...it could be dangerous."

"I won't leave her." One look at his tormented eyes told them it was useless to argue.

Edward pulled the restraints on the gurney around her and positioned her shoulder to expose the vicious bite. A red line of venom was already creeping down her upper arm. It took him ten minutes to pull most of the venom from the veins around the bite. He spat huge mouthfuls of infected blood into an emesis basis held by Carlisle. He refused to swallow blood tainted with the venom of the monster who tried to kill his Bella.

Sam and Jake looked on... amazed at the self control required for him to do such a thing.

Wiping his mouth with a wet towel, Edward gave them a curious look. Sam went to sit by Leah who, while still unconscious, was breathing better and hopefully healing.

"How do you do that?" Jake wanted to know. "Why can you do that while Aro and his guard have so little self control?"

"I have considerable experience in drinking human blood actually, Jake. When I was younger, I rebelled against Carlisle's lifestyle and went on a rampage through the human population."

"You killed humans?" Jake looked shocked.

"You might call them that, but I called them serial murderers or rapists. At any rate, I discovered something interesting about drinking human blood however justified."

"What was that?"

"It's addictive...for vampires... and the longer they drink it, the more they crave it...I'm not even sure it's just the chemical addiction, I think part of it is the power inherent in taking a life...it's a god complex thing, and when any creatures kills often enough for whatever reason, he becomes so desensitized, so dehumanized that his self-loathing dictates that he continue on...that he deserves no better because he is no better."

"What stopped you? There were a lot of sick son of a bitches out there that needed killing in those days."

"Carlisle. I couldn't get his voice out of my head."

"I see. But how are you able to drink Bella's blood and even Leah's just now without..."

Bella stuck her head into the room just then smiling...all eyes for Edward.

"We have everyone situated and Carlisle is working with the worst of them right now. I think one of the girls is about to deliver. She's having labor pains as we speak."

"Here's why..."Edward answered Jake as he pulled Bella under his arm and kissed the top of her disheveled hair. "Once, I tasted this sweet thing, all other blood is just...well...blood."

"That's me," Bella laughed... "Nectar of the gods."

Rebecca slipped in the door behind Jake and wrapped her arms around his middle. Looking down, he smiled when she slipped under his arm and looked up at him.

"I told you that you should have let me go with you this morning. When will you ever learn that I'm always right?"

Jake rolled his eyes but wisely said nothing.

…...

As the early autumn rolled on into early winter, everyone stayed busy hauling houses down the road from Forks to scatter them around the Cullen home. It might have been more sensible to move everyone to Forks, but right now the town seemed somehow haunted by the many who had died there in the plague. Besides, proximity to their protective angels, made everyone feel safer...and the Cullen house seemed like home. Rosalie upgraded the little powerplant on the river and more septic systems were installed. Before Thanksgiving, they had managed to set up seven more houses in a sort of circle around the Cullens. The survivors they had saved were too weak or too pregnant to do much, but they were slowly regaining their strength and tried hard to do what they could to help. Pity was their minds could not mend as rapidly as their bodies.

Many nights, the Cullens would hear the front door ease open after they had all gone upstairs, and know that when they came downstairs the next morning, they would find several of the women asleep on the couches and rugs in the living room. Strangely enough, they couldn't feel safe in their new homes despite the reassurances of everyone that the wolves patrolled every night. They just felt safer if they were close to their protectors. It would take a while for them to unlearn their fear.

The first baby was born the day after the big battle and everyone took turns spoiling it. No one knew for sure which of the men was its father, and they didn't really care. Their experiences with the Volturi had bonded the group beyond such petty concerns...and they all took pride in its survival. Bella secretly thought the little boy looked like Riley, but she didn't voice her opinion. She did notice Riley spending a lot of time with the baby and Victoria, its petite mother, a sweet natured redhead who seemed to be haunted by her ordeal with the Volturi.

By first snowfall, everyone was housed and relatively healthy and the babies were being born so quickly, it was hard for Carlisle to keep up. He was in his element seeing patients in his little basement infirmary, going around to make house calls, and trying to coordinate hunts for medicine and medical equipment.

He continued to monitor Bella closely, making sure she drank her blood each night before bed. She was up to two glasses a day now. As Christmas approached, and her due date, she seemed healthier than ever. Rachel, on the other hand, was moving slowly and any kind of unpleasant smell would send her running to the bathroom. She seemed healthy, but very pregnant...the twins making her look even further along than Bella.

A peaceful contentment settled over the little array of houses by the river. The wolves kept watch in case the stray Nomad came wandering through, but when not on duty, they spent their free time hanging out with the unattached women in the settlement... particularly the ones that had not conceived under Aro's tender care. By first snowfall, everyone was snuggled into a house provided by the Cullens ingenuity, Emmett was making plans for growing crops and Rose was thinking about building a school.

Bella was probably the only individual in the settlement who was not extraordinarily happy. In fact, she was extraordinarily unhappy...pissed off...mad as hell and just plain furious. Edward had decreed at the end of October that they would not be having any more sex until after the baby was born.

Bella felt like an addict who had been asked to go cold turkey. She was miserable...she was frustrated... so she decided to do the only thing she could do in retaliation. She decided to make his life a living hell.

She turned seduction into a higher art form as she did any and every little thing she could think of to drive him crazy with lust. Touching him constantly, biting her lip because she knew that drove him insane...asking him to do a thousand mundane things that she swore she couldn't do because of the baby such as shaving her legs...all the way up to her thighs...bringing her a towel because she forgot to get one before stepping into the shower... forgetting to wear any panties under her skirt that just happened to gap open while he massaged her feet...slicing her finger as she peeled an apple and letting the blood swirl down her finger in front of his mesmerized eyes before it healed almost before their eyes...thousands of things.

She became the irresistible force to his unmoving object.

So, Edward did the only thing he could...he started staying gone for long hours at a time. He told her he was hunting, but she knew better. She even imagined he was slipping off to see Tanya or someone else in her jealous mindset but it was impossible for her to follow him when he left...although she was fast...faster than she had ever been. She could walk across the clearing to visit Carmen and Eleazer faster than she used to be able to run the same distance. It was probably because she was also getting stronger. Things she used to have to strain to lift felt as light as a feather these days.

One day, she went to out to feed Bambi, who was a fully grown and still followed her around like a puppy, and realized she had forgotten to get a bucket to carry the feed from the storage shed. The sacks of grain were too heavy for her to lift, but she didn't want to go back to the garage for the bucket through the slushy snow. She pulled the sack of cow feet up to open it, and realized, she probably didn't need the bucket. She smiled and hoisted the heavy sack onto her shoulder traisping through the snow to his pen, She poured out the feed into his trough and hauled the still almost full sack back into the building.

She stood in the gloomy light of the little storage shed for a few moments looking at the feed sack...thinking...and remembering the day she climbed the tree to hide from Edward. She had never been overly athletic and climbing trees with her clumsy lack of coordination and skimpy muscles was simply not a part of her skill set. Her heart suddenly began to beat faster, and she felt that breathless, adrenaline rush kind of shakiness that she knew to be fear. She was changing...slowly, but surely...she was changing. She hadn't fallen or tripped over anything in weeks. Should she tell Edward? No..he was already frantic with worry about her upcoming delivery... but surely getting stronger and faster was a good thing...right?

Her eye fell upon a shovel leaning in the corner of the building, and she reached over and took it by the handle. Sticking her head out the door to make sure she was alone, she tried to break the handle of the shovel. Placing both hands along its length, she applied pressure. It fell apart in her hands as if it were made of paper mache. A long splinter tore free and punctured the palm of her hand. When she pulled it out, the wound closed instantly before more than a drop or two of blood appeared. It didn't even leave a scar.

"Shit!" she whispered.

Grasping the metal bottom of the shovel, she effortlessly bent it into a steel tube.

"Shit and double shit!" she said out loud.

Feeling guilty for some strange reason, she hid the evidence of her destruction under some old boxes and left the building, being careful to lock the door behind her.

She would definitely have to keep this to herself...Edward would flip out...hell Edward would flip all the way to the moon. She was more afraid of how he would react than anything else. She would keep her secret as long as possible and hope that whatever was happening to her was a good thing...it really had to be a good thing, didn't it? Yes, she would keep it secret...no matter what, she promised herself as she headed back to the house...

And then the bear showed up in the garden...


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters...at least not in this universe...but I have enjoyed playing with them. No copyright infringement intended. All belongs to the one and only Stephanie M.

Author's Notes: This is it, my last chapter...except for a little epilogue...maybe. I've enjoyed messing around with all of Stephanie's Twilight creations and I hate to see them go. Contrived...oh yes...unbelievable...oh yes...but if I could create a universe the way I wanted it...I think it would be something like the one in this fanfic...except for the virus and the bad vamps, of course...but you know what I mean. Alas, every Garden of Eden has to have a serpent or two. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews...I think I'm going to mosey over to the Writer's Coffee Shop in the next few days and start an original novel...I hope I meet you there. Thanks for being part of my first experiment.

The Blood Wars

Chapter 23

Turnips...that's what the bear was after... turnips that had been overlooked or were too small to harvest earlier in the fall. On its way to a snug den for the winter hibernation, it had chanced upon one last free meal compliments of Emmett's garden. Almost everyone was inside that warm, late fall morning except for Bella who was babysitting Joey and Missy while Sam and Leah ran patrol. The bear was downwind and neither the Cullens nor the off duty wolves had smelled it. Bambi...who as it turned out was indeed a "he" not a "she" was grazing on the lawn, still wearing his first set of spikes which made petting him a little tricky but provided an interesting contrast to the neon pink collar he wore to keep the Cullen family from eating him by mistake if he wandered into the Park. Missy was in the swing and Bella was behind her giving the toddler a lazy little push every now and then because she hadn't quite learned how to pump those chubby little legs yet. Joey was kicking a big red ball around in the yard, when all of a sudden, Bambi raised his head and looked down the slope towards the garden. His white tail came up, and he bounded off into the trees like the fearless creature he was. Even this did not alert Bella to the presence of the turnip eating bear because sometimes the intrepid Bambi ran for cover if he smelled one of the wolves coming in from patrol …..or if he saw a mouse crossing his trail...so Bella didn't worry too much about the deer's sudden flight. But the startled buck distracted Joey, and the ball got away from him and rolled down the grassy incline and into the dead weeds at the edge of the garden. Joey ran after it just as he had done a hundred times. And Bella thought nothing about that either... until she heard him scream.

"Aunt Beeeeellllla!"

Her head went up at the sound, and she could see just beyond the boy, a strange dark blob moving around in the garden.

Partially hidden by old weeds and corn stalks, the bear was almost impossible to see until it stood up at the sound of Joey's scream. Bella's heart stopped. A big brown bear... easily four hundred pounds and seven feet tall... towered over the little boy as if trying to determine whether or not he was a threat.

It! Was! Huge!

The bear was as startled as Bella and Joey, but the child's scream was perceived as a challenge. It growled and dropped to all fours preparing to charge.

Bella quickly pulled Missy from the swing and yelled at her to get in the house...which did absolutely no good because the child, frightened by the bear, her brother's scream and the fear in her Aunt Bella's voice just stood there and squalled.

Bella ran as fast as her legs and her big belly would allow towards the little boy who stood frozen with fear as he stared at the charging beast.

"Joey! Run!" she screamed, and her voice seemed to snap him out of his trance. He turned and ran towards her. She passed him, yelling, "Get Missy in the house!" He scurried to obey her as fast as his little legs would move, but in what world could a six year boy outrun a charging bear? She had read they could run thirty miles an hour...almost as fast as a horse for short distances. She knew she had to distract it. Someone had piled old tomato stakes beside the path to the garden, and she stooped to grab one as she hurried to put herself between Joey and the long sharp fangs and the two inch claws of the beast intent on catching the little boy. She yelled at the charging bear and jabbed at it with the stick trying to divert its attention from Joey to herself. The bear stopped and whirled to face Bella, enraged by this new threat. It rose to its hind legs again growling at her...its hot fetid breath washing across her face...and she turned to run, but before she took a step, she realized that if she ran, it would catch her before she could get more than a few yards...and with her back to the bear, she would be defenseless... what about the children? She wasn't sure they had gotten inside the house.

"_Damn,_" she thought. _"Where was a vampire when you needed one? Or a werewolf for that matter?"_

The wooden stake in her trembling hands was sharpened to a point at one end and round… and the shape of it caused a synapse to fire somewhere deep inside her brain. It reminded her of something. In that instant, she remembered the broken shovel handle, the tall tree, the heavy sack of feed, the bent metal. She turned to face the bear knowing she had only two choices: face the bear and die or run from the bear and die. The beast walked two steps forward preparing to pounce with its claws reaching out for her. It roared long and loud at the little dark haired human who had dared to threaten it with a stick. Surely, Bella thought, someone would have to hear _that... _its roar was so loud, it fairly blew her hair back. She lifted her improvised weapon placing both of her hands along its length and bracing her feet one behind the other.

"Edward...help me..." she whispered, and she thought she heard him say her name, but that was ridiculous because he had gone hunting with Emmett and Jasper early this morning and wasn't due home until noon.

She wanted to scream, but she didn't have time...she wanted to close her eyes, but she didn't dare...instead she raised the tomato stake as high as she could over her head, holding it tightly in both hands. She arched her back and jumped forward to focus the full force of her body weight behind the thrust and rammed the stake deep into the shaggy breast of the bear as it leapt forward to strike her down...and she fell... but so did the bear... with most of its weight landing on top of her legs. She could feel the agonizing burn of its outstretched claw hit her shoulder as it fell...tearing three deep furrows of flesh all the way to her elbow.

Then, with a groan that vibrated throughout its body, the bear quivered twice and went still. It must have been part of the whole adrenaline rush thing, but she could have sworn that she actually heard its mighty heart beat once more and then stop... unable to contract around the wooden stake that pierced not only its heart, but the entire body of the beast. Wiggling out from under the dead weight, she staggered to her feet and look down ...she could see at least three inches of wood protruding from its back. She watched in stupefied wonder as blood gushed from her shoulder and ran down her arm to drip warmly from her fingertips.

The whole battle had taken less than a minute, but it seemed as if time had slowed down or stopped entirely while she fought this shaggy beast for her life and the lives of the two children. Her knees wobbled and her breath came in gasps. She felt tired...and very dizzy...and very, very thirsty.

Suddenly, everyone was there...Carlisle, who had been in the basement with Esme when he heard the bear's final roar, appeared at her side his eyes wide with shock. Kate, Carmen and Eleazer arrived next and then the off duty pack came running. Jacob was phasing as he tore up the turf in great clods trying to get to her from the garage. Rose and Alice who were visiting with the Denali cousins also crowded around her. They showed up just as bear exhaled its last breath. Victoria and Riley were the first humans on the scene...then the others flew out their doors running to see what had happened. A couple of the women stopped to take care of Joey and Missy who still had not made it to the house and were crying and sobbing a few yards away.

For some reason, now that the danger was over, Bella's terror swept her over the edge. She turned to face the gathering crowd, threw back her head and screamed and screamed and screamed.

She simply could not stop screaming.

Carlisle and Jake... who had phased back to human form... both tried to calm her, so they could check her arm, but she backed away from them and kept screaming.

Finally, handing the baby to Alice, Rose stepped over at vampire speed and slapped her gently across the face. It burst her lip and the blood flew, but it shut her up. She collapsed into Jake's arms...fainting dead away.

At that precise moment, Edward appeared at the edge of the forest, looking as if he had just stepped from the middle of a whirlwind from Hell.

He had been draining his second deer that morning when he heard her call his name. Her cry for help was as clear as if she had been standing at his shoulder..as clear as the sound of the body of the deer hitting the ground where he dropped it. He had even called her name as he looked around... trying to figure out where she was. Realizing she wasn't there, he hadn't even bothered to tell his brothers goodbye. He just took off. I could hear them yell his name as they followed, but soon left them far behind.

He had heard her screaming a couple of miles out and now he beheld a blood covered, unconscious Bella being carried in Jacob's arms toward the house, a vast entourage of somber faced vampires, humans and werewolves trailing behind them.

He froze.

It looked like a funeral procession.

He was so sure she was dead, he shut his mind down immediately blocking all their thoughts for fear of hearing the dreaded words.

He literally couldn't move his legs. If Carlisle hadn't seen him standing there, he probably would have never moved again.

As Carlisle approached, Edward held his hand up defensively. His face was a mask of agonized grief.

"Don't say it...please merciful God in Heaven...don't say it. I will never forgive you, if you say it!"

"Read my mind, Son."

"No...if you value my sanity, don't say it...don't even think it."

"She alright...I swear...she's perfectly fine. Go see for yourself. She killed the bear with a tomato stake to save Sam and Leah's kids...She's okay, I tell you..."

He didn't finish his sentence because Edward was already gone...across the yard and into the house.

He found her still unconscious body on the couch with Jacob standing beside her pulling up his pants. Alice was waving an ammonia capsule under her nose and Rachel was squalling and blubbering at her feet. Joey and Missy were still crying as they clung to her legs while everyone else looked on. She was covered in blood.

Edward tore through the crowd around her and none too gently. He knelt to inspect her body for injuries. There were none to find. Blood on her lips...blood on her arm and shoulder... her clothes...lots of blood...but no injury. And it was her blood not the bear's...he could tell. He placed his hands on her belly and listened for the baby's heart. It was ticking away at a steady rate... Bella's heart too sounded fine...no problem there. Taking her chin between his fingers, he turned her head from side to side looking for any sign of injury severe enough to have produced this much blood. Nothing. As he laid his hand gently on the side of her cheek wishing she would open her eyes and speak to him, she drew in her breath harshly, and her hand flew up to grasp his wrist at vampire speed. Had he been human, she would have broken his arm... such was the strength of her fingers. Her eyes flew open, and she saw him looking down at her with worry shimmering in his black eyes. She blinked and looked around at the crowd of concerned citizens standing over her.

"Bella," he murmured. Where are you hurt? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," she told him which, of course, always drove him insane. But she really meant it. She felt fine...great really and then she remembered the bear. She sat up in alarm.

"Oh Edward, the most awful thing happened. Did they tell you? We had a bear attack...It tried to eat Joe and Missy, but I..." she paused realizing the absurdity of what she was about to say.

She laughed uncertainly. "Believe it or not. I killed it with a tomato stake...how's that for lucky?"

"You were hurt..there's so much blood.."

She looked at her arm, but couldn't see any wound. "I don't understand...it clawed me a little, I think, but it's...it's not here...the scratch..."

"It had to be more than a scratch. There's at least a pint of blood on your clothes." Carlisle said.

"Where was everyone else when you were out in the yard fighting a bear?" Edward's voice was a sneer of accusation."

Everyone started talking at once explaining why they didn't hear or weren't there or were busy doing this or that, but he was not interested.

"Next time I go hunting, you're coming with me."

A long silence ensued, and then the room erupted in laughter.

He glared at them not getting the joke at all. "I'm glad I amuse you...but it's a sorry thing that this many vampires and werewolves can't protect one little pregnant human. We're on our own out here people. Vigilance is crucial. Carlisle," he muttered darkly without taking his eyes off Bella, "I think we need to set up a guard duty roster to make sure something else like this doesn't happen again. Wolves doing patrol around the area may stop nomads, but..."

"That's a good idea, Son. We'll be sure to do that...Now everybody back outside and let Bella have some time to calm down from her …. er ….frightful experience." He coaxed everyone out the room, and then paused at the door. "Edward, when Bella is settled...I need to talk to you for a few minutes."

Edward had already picked his wife up and moved to the bottom of the stairs. He turned his head attentive to his father's thoughts, not just his words, He nodded. It was moments like this when he was searching the minds of others that Bella thought he looked the most...vampirish...was that a word? Whatever...she found it very sexy, that slightly bowed head, ...that unblinking stare with his pupils all dilated and black with emotion...vampirish.

"I think I may have just invented a word, Edward," she told him happily as he carried her up to their room.

"What's that?" he asked as he nuzzled her neck.

"Vampirish."

"I think you're light headed from blood loss."

"I'm so thirsty...do you think I could have my glass of blood now instead of at bedtime tonight?"

"Bella, you can have all the blood you want...you know that. Just so long as you eat some human food too,"

A knock on the door, interrupted him.

"What?" he snapped over his shoulder. He wanted to get her in the shower before the blood dried, but he set her on the bed and turned to address their visitor.

Emmett stuck his head in the door. "Got something for Bella! Carlisle said to bring it right up." He kicked the door open. Both hands held glasses full of warm thick blood. He crossed the room and knelt at her feet. Placing one of the glasses on the nightstand, he stuck his finger in the blood and marked her forehead with the red liquid.

"Your first kill, my lady Bella." he told her, and for once he didn't seem to be joking. Bella grinned and took the proffered drink and turned it up.

"This is so good," she told the two vampires. Without another word she drained the glass and reached for the one on the nightstand.

"Predator blood," Emmett smiled... "Bear blood always tastes better than deer."

"Why don't you drink this all the time?" she wanted to know.

"They're somewhat endangered." Emmett said and shrugged. Jake and I are butchering your bear... You might want to know that you not only hit the bear's heart, you completely severed its spine. Probably why it went down so quickly...sometimes they can travel a mile before they even know they're dead. We managed to save quite a bit of the blood for the freezer...had a little sip or two myself. Sam and Leah are back. They wanted to come up and thank you personally, but I told them to wait a while. Jake and the pack want bear steaks for supper. Do you know how to cook them?"

"No, but I'll find a recipe. Billy brought us some once...it was delicious marinated in garlic and spices..."

"You won't be cooking anybody's supper tonight, little girl. Jake can cook his own steaks," Edward told her. "You will rest all day, if I have to tie you to this bed...after your shower, that is."

"Well..."she looked up at her mate speculatively..."What if I get bored...tied to the bed, I mean?"

"Sounds like my cue to exit," Emmett laughed. "Hope you're creative enough to keep her from getting bored, my brother...if you need any suggestions, let me know. Later, Bella." and with a lascivious wink, he was gone.

"Bath time for Bella," Edward said. He reached over and turned their electric blanket on high, scooped her up and headed to the bathroom. He didn't bother undressing her, after he stood her by the tub... he just put his two hands at the collar of her shirt and ripped it down and off her arms. It came away in two neat halves.

"Wait!" she protested. "That was one of my favorite shirts."

"Not anymore," he muttered. "I don't think I could stand to look at this shirt ever again... God... Bella, why didn't you just scream for help?"

"There wasn't time, really. It was after Joey." She hurried to unfasten her maternity jeans and shove them down out of reach of his destructive hands. She smacked his hands away as she removed her bra and panties.

"Not my jeans.. or my underwear..honestly Edward...I don't have that many maternity clothes."

He conceded and soon they were both naked and standing under a warm spray of water while he washed her face gently smoothing away any blood stains left from the attack.

"How did you get blood on your chin here?" He said rinsing her face with a warm cloth.

"I don't know," she answered breathlessly as he worked shampoo through her long hair massaging her scalp so tenderly she was surprised she didn't melt and flow down the drain with all the suds. This was the first time in a while that she had been naked in the shower with him. Even eight months pregnant, she was definitely not gonna waste her time telling him about how Rose smacked her face to stop her hysterical screaming. No, he didn't need to know that... Besides, he would just get all freaky about it.

He froze. His eyes going all "vampirish" again.

"What?" she asked.

"Rose hit you?"

"No..."

"Don't lie to me, Bella. I just heard you think about Rose slapping your face to stop your screams...

God!" he gasped.

His initial anger at Rose was forgotten.

"I heard that thought..." He laughed triumphantly and took her by her shoulders lowering his forehead to hers as if to absorb her thoughts through her very skin.

"You heard me? You read my mind?"

"Yes! Yes!" he pulled her into a hug. "Do it again... think about something..."

"What?"

"I don't know.." his excitement was contagious. Edward didn't do exuberant, but he was doing it now.

"Think something about the baby..."

"Okay.." she bit her lip and tried to focus, but the feel of his soapy body sliding against hers, made it very hard to concentrate on anything except the very hard part of him that was nudging her lower regions. Focus... She thought about how Alice had found a suspended cradle that had a little peg that would prevent the movement of the cradle if the baby in it was sleeping.

"Did you get that?"

"No, nothing...but I swear I heard you thinking about Rose...Maybe it doesn't work all the time."

"We'll have to practice..."

"I think I've heard you a couple of other times, but I'm not sure...I heard you call me when the bear attacked," he told her solemnly "I had forgotten about it in the excitement, but that's why I came back so early. You said, 'Edward, help me.'"

"Yes, I did!" her excitement almost made her slip out of his grasp. "And I heard you say my name."

"Jesus! You read... my mind?" He looked uneasy now...

Bella narrowed her eyes at him. "Hmmmm. How does that feel? The shoe on the other foot thing?" She had to sniggered at his discomfort.

He grinned down at her with that crooked smile she loved so much, "What am I thinking right now?"

"You're thinking you want to throw me down on our bed and do bad things to me," she whispered shyly.

"I'm always thinking that," he murmured nibbling his way down her squeaky clean neck. "And just when did Alice let you watch her DVD of that series? I recognize the line from the title song.. My sister is such a bad influence..." He shook his head and smiled as he scolded her.

"Oh, don't be such a...prude, Edward," she giggled.

He hoisted her out of the shower as he grabbed a towel.

"Me? A prude? I don't think a prude would do this?" His hands began to wander over her body into places they had never gone before. "Or this?" he added as he rolled his hard length against her ass and bit down on the muscle that ran from her neck to her shoulder...not hard enough to break the skin, but all the same she was breathless and achy by the time he released her and wrapped her hair in a dry towel.

In a flash they were comfortably snuggled under the toasty warm electric blanket. Turning her away from him, he got busy on her hair... massaging the towel through the damp strands and then using the brush on the nightstand to work out the tangles. Once it was tangle free, he plaited it down her back in a long braid. When he had finished, he turned her and pulled her into his arms nuzzling her neck and shoulder still thinking how close he had come to losing her today. She was so warm from the hot shower and the electric blanket...even Edward's normally cool skin temperature felt warm.

"I'm so decadent... lazing around in bed in the middle of the day. Are you still thinking about doing bad things to me?" she murmured hopefully.

"Bella, I told you...it's just a month to go...we can wait that long."

"We can be careful...so very careful...trust me...it won't hurt a thing." She burrowed her head under the warm covers crawling down his body until she found the treasure she was searching for. Throwing the covers back from her head and shoulders she bent and took his hard length into her warm hungry mouth. He groaned in despair unable to resist her warm caresses and the smell of her arousal so close against him. Pulling her leg around his neck, he kissed her reverently on her mounded stomach and then down to her slick opening where he tried to concentrate on pleasing her as she stroked his hard length with her tongue and lips. It had been almost two weeks since he had told her they would abstain from their lovemaking until after the baby was born, and he felt like an addict that had been without his own special brand of heroin. Every day without her had been worse than the day before...it was more than withdrawal...it had been a hellish torture to deny her. Everything she did, however innocent, had made him ache with need for her...even massaging her feet or watching her apply lotion to her distended stomach, was such a temptation to him. A thousand times a day, he wanted her and a thousand times a day, he remembered that it wouldn't be safe so late in her pregnancy. But here they were again so effortlessly joined until it was hard to tell where he left off and she began... and whereas the raw temptation was something he could fight, this position was his undoing. When she drew him in deep all the way to the back of her throat and swallowed around the swollen head of his throbbing length, he lost control and flipped them around so that he lay behind her... drawing her hips back to his pelvis. He entered her slowly, gently clutching both of her full breasts in his hands. One tender thrust and she was lost in the dark swirling maelstrom of his desire. Two thrusts and she closed around him so powerfully, that his eyes flew open in shock. Good Lord! He had never felt her tighten around him that powerfully...had he been human, he was quite sure he would have felt pain from the clenching and pulsing of her inner core. Three thrusts took him to the brink of an almost frightening precipice. The fourth thrust took them both over the edge as they gasped and moaned in a long sweet free fall of ecstasy. It went on and on as her pleasure fed on his while his pleasure was likewise amplified by hers. Without warning, he was inside her mind as well as her body where he could feel...not just believe...the totality of her love at the height of her pleasure. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever known. And when their ecstasy faded away into peaceful oblivion, he felt that too still joined to her thoughts, reluctant to leave what seemed to be his only true home. This was paradise: joined to her in mind and body. He felt her amazement...her awe at how he made her feel and her smug satisfaction at seducing him...her adoration and her satiated drowsy contentment at being in his arms...he felt the baby move from her perception and knew how her heart leaped with joy at the thought of how the child might look like him.

He knew her secrets too. Her fear and confusion about how strong she was becoming and at how she seemed to heal so rapidly almost before she knew she was hurt and how she hoped he wouldn't be upset by the changes going on in her body. He smiled as he heard her savoring his hard length still inside her as she planned her next seduction... He could feel himself as he felt to her when her inner muscles bit down on him ….God! He never wanted to leave this place...her mind...her body...their pleasure as if they were one creature... not male and female, but both ..and then ...her sudden realization that he was far too quiet and was probably reading her mind.

She pushed him off her with barely concealed irritation, and her shield fell into place. She blocked him out. It was a painful shock to feel himself being pushed out of her so abruptly both mentally and physically.

"I don't know if I like this or not..." she muttered at him.

He pulled her back into his arms and pressed his forehead against her temple smiling like the tempting devil he was. "Let me in, Bella. I like it there...take down your shield and let me in," he pleaded with her like a little boy.

"No by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I don't like my every secret made clear to you." she complained. 

"Please... just once more."

"No...I feel...naked."

He laughed a wicked little laugh. "You are naked!" He swept his hand down her body until she caught her breath in a quick gasp.

"Let me..." he tempted.

"I don't know how. I don't know how to do it. It just happens sometimes."

"Just try..."

"That's distracting me..." she protested as he rolled her hardened nipple between his fingertips, rolled and pulled at it. "Be still."

She was thinking about the meadow and how beautiful it was in spring. She missed it and wondered how it would look when it snowed...her mind replayed the day they picnicked when he decorated her body with flowers and particularly the violets he wove into her...

"Yeeesssss...what a beautiful memory...I promise I'll take you there soon...I have a surprise for you the next time we go back to our meadow."

" A surprise? What is it? I want to go now.."

"Then it wouldn't be a surprise...besides, it isn't ready yet. Don't be so... 'humanish'...have a little patience."

"I think I'm becoming more 'vampirish' than 'humanish.'" She giggled.

Was she human? She pondered the changes in her body and what they meant for the baby and for her future as well. She was becoming something...other than human. No human could have done what she did today. She remembered the shovel episode in the storage building...

"You should have told me..." His voice sounded all Domward suddenly.

"Domward? What the hell is that?" he demanded...

Oh no! Now she had really pissed him off. Enough of this...and she shielded her thoughts from him.

"If reading my mind is going to make you so mad, just...just don't!"

He looked bewildered...in all his years as a telepath, no one had ever been able to let him in or shut him out at will. He had always been the one in control...until Bella...He wasn't sure he liked this arrangement at all.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Don't pout! Vampires don't pout!" She snapped. "Tell me what Carlisle's been thinking about these changes...Don't deny it, I saw the look you two gave each other a little while ago when he said he wanted to talk."

Now who was reading whose mind? He shook his head and pulled her closer.

Carlisle says he has two theories. One is that you are reacting to the trace amounts of venom in my body fluids. The other theory is that you are being changed by the baby...he says that for all practical purposes you are half vampire now. You're stronger, faster, able to heal quickly, craving blood, but he doesn't know if the process will be reversed after the baby is born or not. My kind have always believed the only way to change an individual into a vampire is by biting them and injecting them with a large dose of venom, but apparently, in your case, injecting very small amounts has also had a similar but less traumatic effect. After the bite, the rest of us had to endure three days and nights of horrendous agony as the transformation took place. In your case, things are moving along more gradually, but...Carlisle doesn't know if the transformation will be complete or permanent. All theories and guesses.. that's all he has...but one thing he's sure of...your cells are reproducing perfectly...and very quickly too... if they're damaged. Even your blood supply quickly replenishes itself...so long as you keep drinking blood to nourish the baby and yourself. The telomeres that cap the ends of your chromosomes are not breaking down, so your cells are not aging when they reproduce... your cells seem to be...for lack of a better word...immortal?"

" Immortal? A half breed vampire?" She smiled broadly against his neck.

"One of a kind...until the baby's born. Odds are she will be warm blooded too. I can hear her heart beating without even putting my head on your belly."

"You've been talking to Jake. Does that mean we can have more babies, you think?"

Edward pulled his head back and looked down at her with something like terror in his eyes.

"Just kidding," she giggled...but she wasn't, and he knew that without reading her mind.

"Nothing's for certain...this is a new field of study for Carlisle...cutting edge stuff, and remember, we won't know whether or not it's permanent until after the baby's born."

"So...you can drink some of my blood without it hurting me? I mean after the baby's born?"

"Don't even go there..." he warned her, but she could see that the thought had crossed his mind.

"Let's go down and supervise the cookout," she told him getting out of bed and hunting some clean clothes. I'm hungry, and I want to sample my first kill," she smirked at him where he lay still naked on their bed.

"Smart ass! You really need to stay in bed and rest...You are so stubborn!" But he got dressed and made it to the door before she had her shoes tied.

"I'm still not as fast as you..." she lamented.

"Don't worry," he grinned.. "Nobody is..."

…...

The whole settlement showed up for the feast. Jake noticed that it took almost half the bear to feed them all. He needed to start raising cattle. Some of them were amazed at how fat the meat was, but with Bella's seasoning, it was delicious. For the time being there was plenty of food, but it wouldn't be long before they needed to go scavenging again. The whole world was their shopping mall, and they didn't even need a credit card. Of course all the deer brought home by the Cullens, and the cattle left behind after the plague had been grazing through the summer and fall, but they wouldn't make it though the winter without hay. Jake ponder the feasibility of using the pasture lands around Forks for his own herd.

Shelter had been their first concern, but now finding food was crucial. Scavenged food only had so long a shelf life and without heat in the abandoned stores and houses, canned goods would freeze and burst when the temperature dropped in the next two months.

Christmas was coming and with it a sense of new beginnings. So far, twelve relatively healthy babies had been born and sadly, two stillborn...due, in Carlisle's opinion, to the harsh treatment of their mothers while the Volturi held them captive. He innoculated them all as soon as he cut their umbilical cords.

No more nomads showed up, but everyone knew it was just a matter of time. Aro's plans to kill nomads were put on hold until he defeated the Cullen coven...so everyone knew North America was still a dangerous place to live without some pretty powerful protection. Come spring, land needed to be cleared for crops. Hopefully, by next fall, they would have plenty of food. In the meantime, thank God for Emmett's garden and the huge amount of food it produced this year.

Bella was getting large and slowing down as was Rachel although the twins weren't due until the end of January whereas Bella and Edward's daughter was due sometime around Christmas. Everyone worried over the mothers to be and hovered over them. They were never left alone. Either Jacob or Edward was nearby at all times. Neither Rachel nor Bella liked being so smothered, but that was the problem with being married to a werewolf or a vampire...can't live with them...can't kill them... as the old joke goes, but in their case the saying was literally true. Bella was up to three glasses of blood a day, plus human food of course. She and Edward spent a lot of time perfecting her control over her shield and now for short periods of time she could use it to shield people from Edward's telepathy or lower it to let him read her mind.

One day in late December, Rachel took her for a walk. They were being supervised by Jake today while Edward hunted. He sat on the porch reading a book on cattle husbandry while they strolled as far as their invisible leashes would reach and hopefully out of range of the werewolf's hearing.

"Will you do me a favor, Bella?"

"Sure Rach...just name it."

"I don't want Jake to be around when I have the twins...Carlisle says it's best to do a C-section, and I hear that's pretty messy. I don't know how he'll react to seeing Carlisle cut me open to remove the babies. He may phase... or he may faint...he's not exactly rational where I'm concerned."

"Carlisle...you know he's done so many deliveries and surgeries...Jake shouldn't feel that way."

"That's the thing, I don't think he does...it's just an instinctive thing...besides, I'd like to spare him that whole scene if I can."

"So?"

"Well, Edward will know when Carlisle decides to do the surgery."

"Oh shit...I never thought of that..."

"He'll tell Jake ...won't he?"

"Yes, I think he will. They're pretty tight these days."

"I thought I'd suddenly develop a powerful craving for sardines right before Carlisle does the C-section and ask Jake to go find me some."

"But Rachel, we have plenty of sardines in the pantry."

"No, we don't," Rachel gave her friend an impatient glare.

"Oh yeah, that's right...no sardines."

"So while Jake's out scouring the countryside for a can of sardines..."

"You will tell Carlisle you're ready, and he will do the deed."

"I told him I would pick a time during the appointed week and once I decide which day, you'll have to shield me until after Jake is gone."

"I'll try, but honestly, Rachel, sometimes it's hard to maintain the shield for very long. You sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, just try...that's all I'm asking. It will spare Jake a lot of stress and fear."

"I'll try." Bella assured her friend resolving to work harder than ever to perfect her skill. If Rachel's C Section wasn't until sometime in January, she had a while to practice.

And practice she did. Anytime they were watching a movie or in a large group, she would focus her shield on someone and then turn to Edward saying, "What is Rachel thinking?" or "What is Carlisle thinking?" At first he was able to get through the shield most of the time, but after a week of testing, he couldn't penetrate the shield unless he tickled her or startled her, so she thought she might be able by the next month to hold the shield long enough to help Rachel with her little problem.

It was the week before Christmas when Bella started have little cramps in her lower back and stomach. She thought it was labor, but Carlisle checked her and declared she was having false labor pains, whatever that was. He ordered her to stay off her feet until they went away or evolved into the real deal.

She was resting on the couch in the family room watching the Cullens decorate their Christmas tree... highly entertained by the loud teasing, arguments and confusion that comes when anyone tried to decorate anything around Alice. She was a perfectionist. They were the last to put up a tree. All of the other homes had put up their trees a couple of days ago.

Edward sat at her feet rubbing them with a lazy, seductive massage that sent tingles up the backs of her legs. In the middle of all the happy chaos, Alice got a funny look on her face and sat down in the floor near Bella. She turned to her and said totally out of context, " A nomad...in the yard...no talking...shield Edward...don't let them kill each other." Her words were a distinct warning, but totally bewildering to her sister-in-law.

Bella gave her a confused look. Suddenly, Edward stopped massaging her feet...Alice stopped talking...in fact everyone in the room stopped. Emmett and Jake fell over because they were standing off balance when everything stopped. What was a busy, noisy room full of people decorating a tree was now completely still and silent. The colorful lights on the tree blinked merrily on and off...on and off...

Puzzled, Bella sat up looking at Edward was as still as a statue. Even Rachel and Jake sat unmoving at the foot of the Christmas tree. She could see the gentle rise and fall of their shoulders...at least they were breathing. For a moment she thought she had slipped into the Twilight Zone or that this was some elaborate joke...something Emmett would pull, but... then she remembered Alice's strange warning.

She slipped off the couch and crept to the window keeping to the shadows of the curtain to see if there was indeed a nomad in the yard.

The moonlight made a silvery path across the new snow on the lawn and standing in the middle of that ribbon of light was a tall man with sandy, shoulder length hair. He wore no coat despite the chill night. Beside him holding his hand was a brown haired little girl who by the looks of all her warm clothes was a human of about thirteen. Bella held her breath when the vampire turned his red eyes to the window where she crouched. They glittered in the moonlight as they searched the window for movement. Holding her breath, she watched him through the blur of frost flowers on the window pane. She saw him flit into one of the human houses leaving the little girl to wait in the center of the clearing.

My God, while she dithered about, he was probably killing Riley, Victoria and the other women who stayed in that house. Alice had said to shield Edward. She flew to him and remembering the power of vampire hearing, she placed her hand across his mouth. At first, she was so scared, she had trouble focusing, but then managed to expand her shield to cover him. He grabbed her hand removing it from his lips and looked around at his frozen family.

"Nomad!" she pantomimed.

He looked at his unmoving family and then his face got that distant listening look as if he were reconnoitering the mind of his enemy. He found him in Riley and Victoria's house. He was busily drinking blood from the arm of one of the four young women who were staying with them. Edward saw him close the wound and step to Victoria for more. Although he drank somewhere around a pint from each of the humans, he did not drain them...he only took advantage of their frozen state to feed in moderation without killing them.

_So strange_, he thought...maybe he was planning to capture them and wanted them alive like Aro for breeding. He wondered how far Bella's shield would reach because he wanted to rush across the clearing and kill him immediately, but then he heard the vampire worrying while he fed, about someone called Bree who was outside waiting for him...she was human! Astounding!

He looked down at Bella and motioned for her to stay in the house.

She shook her head looking frantic...obviously, afraid she would lose concentration. and he would be paralyzed again.

He glared at her and his eyes promised retribution for her disobedience, but she merely looked down and shook her head again. He jerked her chin back up.

_Stay here! _He pantomimed, but she again refused... afraid to trust her shield at any substantial distance from him. Oh she would so pay for this, he promised himself as he silently stood and moved in stealth to the door. She was right behind him. He knew when he opened the door, he would have to move fast because the nomad would hear the noise, however small, and either flee or challenge him.

And the nomad did indeed hear him...

The two vampires met in the middle of the yard where the young girl sat insensible on the ground between them.

Then the nomad did something that truly amazed Edward. He snatched the girl at vampire speed and quickly placed her behind him. He put his body between Edward and the girl. Deja Vu! Now where had he seen such a move before. Edward hesitated.

Unfortunately, while he hesitated, Bella came out of the house behind him and waddled over to where the two immortals were engaged in the traditional sizing up staring contest prerequisite to any battle between males... no matter the species.

"Get your ass back in the house," Edward snapped over his shoulder without looking away from his opponent.

She kept coming.

The nomad's eyes went wide. What was this? A vampire protecting a pregnant human? Impossible! And she was human ...he could smell her tantalizing blood from here. Edward read his amazement, his bloodlust for Bella and his fear for the little girl who sat as still as death behind him where he had placed her.

"Who are you?" Edward demanded, but didn't let down his guard for a second. Bella had at least enough sense to stop a few yards behind him, but he knew if he fought the intruder, she could still be hurt in melee. How had the nomad gotten past the wolf patrol?

"My name is Garrett," the nomad told him. "Why are you immune to my gift?"

"I'll ask the questions," He wasn't about to let this Garrett know about his telepathy. He monitored the intruder's thoughts for any sign of impending attack or flight.

"Who is the girl with you?"

"She's one I found after the humans destroyed each other."

"You feed on the others, but you don't feed on her."

"How do you know that?" the nomad wanted to know. For all you know, I drink her blood everyday..."

"I don't think so..."

Garrett shrugged..."You're right, I don't use her blood...she's just a baby for heaven's sake...I don't feed on children."

"You didn't drain the others...in the house?"

"No...I took a little from each of them."

Bella crept closer trying to maintain her shield around Edward. If it dropped a second, the other vampire would know immediately and take advantage.

"You also keep a human, I see...a whole little ….collection of them, in fact."

"Yes, I do."

"Where did you get them all? I've only found a few here and there that haven't been drained by our kind yet."

Edward relished what he was about to say next. An unholy smile twisted his mouth up at one corner.

"We got them from the Volturi...after we destroyed the entire Guard."

The intruder was clearly shocked.

"You killed the Volturi Guard...I don't believe it."

" Believe it...my family and I took these humans from Aro and the Guard."

"But I've heard the witch twins are..."

"Dead," Edward sneered smugly.

"So...you and your family drink from these humans?"

"No...we drink animal blood. We don't kill humans."

Riley's shocked eyes darted around the little circle of houses all facing the larger Cullen home. He looked back at Edward who could hear him considering options...attack...leave...stay...ask more questions...

"I've never killed a human." Garrett said softly in the snow deadened air. "I just trance them and take small amounts of their blood. When they wake up, they don't even know I've been there."

Edward knew his words to be truth. He remained silent allowing the nomad to speak and think freely.

"My wife was the first human I encountered after my change...I couldn't bring myself to kill her. That's how I found out about my trancing gift and how to maintain control enough to drink without killing...My two children were in the house with her...I was horrified they would see me...but the trancing extends for a large area, and they were upstairs... I have frozen entire towns and taken blood from anyone I chose...it's not so hard to keep control when they don't move or run, you know. " He shot Edward a wry grin.

"You can't drink from these people...they've been through enough."

"I see...well, I guess the girl and I will go.."

" Leave her here, we'll take care of her." 

"I don't think so.."

"I insist."

"I'd rather not fight you, but I won't leave her."

Bella could see the pissing contest was over, and unless she did something quickly, Edward would kill this vampire named Garrett. She could see the muscles in his body coiling as he crouched to spring.

She dropped the shield.

"Stop!" she yelled at the nomad as she hurried to place her body in front of Edward's now frozen one. Oh it would surely be the hell to pay, but she didn't want him to risk fighting this strange nomad and besides, Alice had said not to let them fight.

Garrett looked stunned. "You're the one... not him." he stammered realizing she was the one immune to his power. Then he laughed, "That's quite a trick."

"Yes, she said," but she was not amused. "I don't want a fight here... You have to decide Garrett. You can leave here alive...because, as surely as I stand here, I know Edward will kill you if it comes down to it. He has gifts of his own. Or, you can stay and try to work out a solution. Now, you don't seem like a bad sort, unlike some other vampires I've encountered, so I'm inclined to believe you when you say you don't kill humans...Surely, we can come up with something workable. Your gift is extraordinary...it would be very useful to us...maybe we could work out a trade or something...maybe you could learn to drink animal blood. What do you think?"

Garrett looked at her intently his eyebrows arching in amusement. " You foolish girl, I could just kill you and take what I want... don't you know that?" He sounded almost weary for some reason.

She smiled..."Yes, you could, but I don't think you will."

"You're pregnant..." he stated the obvious, staring at her belly.

"Yes, all the more reason why I don't want you and my husband to kill each other. I don't want my child to be an orphan before it's even born."

"Are you telling me it's his child? Now, that I won't believe, little girl."

"Talk to our family...give us a chance to make you see our way."

"What do you want to do? The second I release him, he's going to attack."

"Leave here and let the girl stay with us as a gesture of good faith. When you are at a safe distance release everyone from your trance. Give me time to talk to the rest of the family and get Edward calmed down. Come back...without trancing everyone please...to talk."

"I will not leave the girl. I promised her. She would be frightened, and I ….don't want that."

"It would be better to leave her."

"What if I come back and they still won't work with me...I mean...I could try to adapt to a diet of animal blood, I've never really liked the idea of drinking from humans anyway...I never knew there was any other way...it never occurred to me...animals...they just don't appeal."

"I swear. If you come back and talk with everyone in the morning...if it goes wrong, I won't shield anyone until you have a chance to get away with the girl. I swear on my baby's life."

Suspicious, he hesitated looking behind him at Bree as if to make sure she was okay. Then he turned back to Bella. "On your baby's life?"

"I swear..."

"Nine o'clock.." He picked the girl up in his arms as gently as a father carrying his daughter up to bed and he was gone.

Sixty seconds later, everyone was released from their trance not even realizing they had been frozen. Although, Emmett and Jake were surprised to find themselves suddenly on the floor. They picked themselves up looking confused. 

"The nomad did it," Alice explained and ran for the door to see if Edward and Bella had survived. She had had only had a second or two to warn Bella after her vision of the the nomad catching their scent and deciding to investigate. He had come in from the south carrying the girl on his back, and the patrol had been to the north of the settlement, so they missed him altogether.

Sometimes her visions were no protection against sudden decisions like that one, and now she knew the wolves couldn't guarantee protection from nomads either. She hadn't understood exactly why, but she knew this nomad must not die. She had seen him defending her family against four nomads when the Esme's roses were blooming...some time next spring, probably.

She found Edward and Bella standing in the front yard and rushed to them with vampire speed. Edward was very angry...she could tell because he wasn't yelling. Bella was looking up at him with wide eyes full of tears.

"If you would just let me explain," she was saying.

"No. Let me explain," Alice interrupted. "I told her to do it...just before the paralysis started. I told her not to let the two of you fight.."

Edward cut his angry black eyes at her.

"Stay out of this, Alice. This is between Bella and me. She put herself and the baby at risk...again. He could have killed you in an instant." He said to his wife.

Alice glared at him impatiently, and from her abrupt silence, Bella knew they were having one of their invisible conversations. She waited holding her hands around the bottom of her belly as if she were indeed holding her daughter...which she was, sort of. Her cramps were still coming, but they weren't painful enough to be real labor, were they?

The others were running out to see why Alice flew out of the house and where Edward and Bella had literally disappeared to. They found Alice and Edward glaring at each other and Bella watching them as if the fate of the world hung in the balance.

Carlisle pushed his way to the front of the crowd, took one look at his son and daughter's staring contest and then said to Bella, "Tell me what's going on?"

And so she did.

His first reaction was to check on the people in Riley and Victoria's house. They were watching a movie and had no idea what he was talking about. Each of their arms, however, had a small mysterious scar set on the underside of their wrists.

A community meeting was called and everyone packed themselves into the Cullen living room.

Edward wasn't speaking to Bella...or Alice for that matter. In fact, he was across the room from her instead of his usual position by her side. She sat uneasily on the couch listening to the debate and counting the intervals between contractions. Jasper, Edward and the pack were for tracking down the nomad and rescuing the poor little girl with him.

For once, Emmett was the voice of reason.

"I say, we let the man have his say. So, he drinks human blood...Edward says this immortal's never killed a human, and that's more than some of us can say...I say we work with the guy. It will be tricky, but think of the advantage of having someone who can simply paralyze everyone if there's trouble. Can he trance selected individuals, Bella or just the whole crowd. Did he say?"

"He didn't say," she told him biting her lower lip. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the nagging cramps that felt like someone was trying to pull her ovaries out though her belly button. And her lower back was definitely not feeling very good either.

"Well," Emmett continued. "Can Bella shield me or Edward, before he gets here? Can you shield two of us, Bells?"

"I don't know." Her answers were growing more and more monosyllabic as her pains grew more intense.

"Well, we can't chase him down carrying a very preggers woman along, so we'll just have to wait until in the morning...and if we pursue him without Bella, we all end up turning into statues again."

His logic was undeniable. Everyone exchanged glances. They would have to wait and hope he came back...otherwise he was long gone with a whole night's head start.

"Well, Alice told them all. There will definitely be no running around with this preggers woman tonight because her water will break in thirty seconds and in exactly three hours and ten minutes, she will be having this baby."

Bella looked at her sister-in-law with narrowed eyes, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face. She had been outed...betrayed.

"Oh... the couch, Alice!" Esme warned and at vampire speed, they had her sitting on the leather recliner a heavy folded quilt beneath her. Her water broke immediately, and she wonder if the quilt would even absorb it all. God, who knew there would be so much? Bella was mortified as everyone watched in fascination. She vented her frustration and humiliation on her little sister-in-law.

"Thanks, Alice. I really wanted to wait a little longer to tell everyone."

"Don't think that would have worked out,"Alice told her smugly.

Carlisle and Edward rushed to her at the same time almost colliding.

"Carlisle!" Edward shouted to the man at his elbow.

"Yes, Edward. We have this under control."

"Carlisle!" he said again in alarm grabbing Bella's hand and kneeling in front of her.

"Let's get her upstairs," the doctor suggested. Jake bring her a glass of blood.

All grievances forgotten, Edward gathered her into his arms, wet quilt and all...as if she were made of spun glass and carried her up the stairs so carefully, he could have balanced a glass of water on her head without spilling a drop.

Everyone followed crowding into their bedroom and watching as Edward placed her on the bed and removed her shoes and the soggy quilt. 

"Is everybody gonna watch me?" she asked in horror.

"Out!" Edward shouted... Everybody out!"

The room cleared immediately as they all went downstairs to wait. Jake brought her glass of blood, and Carlisle showed up to check her …..along with Rose who thought she might have to hold Edward out of the way at some point should he go all instinctive and become unreasonable. She helped Bella change into a new pink gown as Edward fretted at her shoulder.

"Are you in pain?" He wanted to know... He would ask the same question at least a hundred times before it was over.

She rolled her eyes at him. "No, Edward, I plan to have this baby without a single labor pain." He looked so upset, she softened her words.

"It's not so bad, really...I'm..."

"Don't you dare say it..." he warned her.

But she really was fine. The labor was long and at one point near the end, when Edward was really, really getting on her nerves, she pulled his forehead to hers and let him slip inside her mind...during one of the final contractions. When she released him, he fell backwards onto the floor in a dead faint where he remained until Rose dragged him out of the way into a corner of the room so they could work in peace.

Renesme Cullen was born at 1:40 AM. Edward revived just in time for her entrance into this world. She was perfect...her father's hair, but her mother's chocolate eyes. She didn't even cry as Carlisle cut the umbilical cord and handed her to an awe-struck Edward. He placed her in her mother's arms and lay beside them both in their big bed. Carlisle and Rose left the new family alone so they could enjoy those first precious moments of parenthood.

Bella's shield melted away to show him how happy she was in this tiny miracle they had made. How she wished her father and mother could have been here to see their granddaughter sleeping peacefully in her arms with Edward curled around them.

"Thank you," he murmured smiling into the fathomless depths of his wife's eyes. "I don't think, I've ever felt such happiness as I feel this moment."

"Nor I," she breathed.

"I can see her dreams." His voice held wonder. "She's dreaming about the sound of her mother's voice."

Bella laughed quietly.

"She's waking up...Look at those eyes! Ooops, she's hungry..."

Bella blushed as the baby squirmed restlessly, she opened her gown to feed her daughter for the first time.

"Oh!" she blurted... surprised at the rapacity of Renesme's little mouth as she began to nurse.

"Be gentle, little girl," Edward admonished his daughter, and she seemed to understand him because she began to suckle less ferociously at her mother's breast. Soon, she became tired and fell asleep. Her parents continued to watch her for a long while...entranced and bewitched by the tiny creature named after both their mothers, Renee and Esme...Renesme.

By 3:00 AM, Bella was completely recovered, dressed and walking around. She carried her daughter in her arms as they went downstairs to present her to the family.

Carlisle had innoculated his granddaughter against the virus just as he had all the babies born in the past few weeks...just in case. He was totally amazed at how quickly Bella had recovered from the delivery.

The baby was passed around for everyone's inspection. When Eleazer touched Renesme's little hand, he froze for a second or two. He could hear the child's thoughts. She was wet and hungry.

"This is interesting," the vampire told the crowd. "She can communicate her thoughts to you if she is touching you...maybe a combination of her mother's and her father's gifts both wrapped up in one little body. She can't read minds, but she can let others read what she is thinking if she touches them. Very curious, I don't think I've seen a gift like this in all my time."

Garrett showed up at 9:00 AM sharp, and Edward was so mellow from knowing Bella and his daughter had survived the birth that he didn't object when the family decided to take the nomad in and train him to their vegetarian lifestyle Little Bree clung to the nomad during all the talking which convinced them more than anything else that he was to be trusted. His trancing gift was a valuable addition to their arsenal of special talents, and Alice predicted that he would help them defeat nomads several times in the near future. They found out he had been a soldier and a teacher in his human life and so Rose's little school would be put to use for Joey, Missy and Bree.

In late January, Rachel had an intense craving for sardines one Tuesday morning, and while Jake was scouring the country side for a can or two that hadn't gotten cold enough to freeze and burst, she and Carlisle went down to his little surgical unit and by the time the wolf returned, he was the father of twin sons. They were big babies for twins. Both of them had their father's black hair and their mother's clear blue eyes. They told everyone she had gone into labor, and Jake never caught on to the subterfuge, something for which Bella and Rachel were very grateful. Edward kept his mouth shut but told Bella she had better not try that with him.

Sam and Leah were married in the spring, their two children in attendance. They seemed happy enough despite the tragic beginning of their relationship. Maybe it was seeing her almost killed by Caius that made Sam cast off the deep depression and heavy guilt that he had carried around for so long. He would always grief for Emily, but there were days when he would go for hours without thinking of her and even then with fond remembrances. In meantime, he had a new family, and life was more than bearable. The mending of his heart was slow but sure.

Garrett tried very hard to stay on his animal blood diet, but every once in a while, he would slip up... and one of the humans in the settlement would coming knocking on Carlisle's door complaining that she had a new scar on her wrist. After a while they didn't even bother to report his little indiscretions, they just gave him hell whenever they saw him and made him promise to stop. He never hurt anyone seriously, and he was always careful to take very small amounts. He was like the village drunk who just couldn't be rehabilitated.

Kate offered to give him aversion shock therapy to cure him of his addiction to human blood, and he agreed to try it. Before long they were spending more and more time together. Everyone whispered about the possibility of a double wedding in June between Kate and Garrett and possibly between Seth and Tanya...although it was still just gossip. Everyone said Seth was far too young for her.

Then, Bree fell gravely ill in February from acute leukemia. Carlisle was helpless to cure her. Garrett was prostrate with grief. There was no consoling him. He stayed by her bed day and night besieging Carlisle to do something...anything to help her. They contemplated turning her, but she was so young, Carlisle was opposed to that until Victoria came to visit him one day. She took the doctor into the kitchen and held her arm over the sink. Taking a small knife from the counter, she sliced the back of her hand, and they both stood watching as the little wound spouted blood. She turned on the faucet and washed the blood away. By the time the blood had swirled down the drain, the wound had closed and healed without a scar. "This is why no one at our house complains about Garrett's blood addiction anymore," she said. "It couldn't be anything else."

Carlisle wasted no time. He prepared a glass of deer blood and laced it with a miniscule amount of his own venom. He took it immediately up to Bree who lay pale and breathless on her bed. Within a week, she was completely in remission.

They had discovered the fountain of youth.

Evidently, Garrett's repeated indiscretions, despite the fact that he always took care to swallow the venom in his mouth before he took their blood, had produced a surprising effect: immortality. Soon, every human in the settlement was following Garrett around begging him to feed from them. It wreaked havoc on his twelve step program and his aversion therapy.

Finally, Carlisle put an end to it by offering to feed them the same cocktail of animal blood and venom that had saved little Bree. He was flabbergasted at the whole notion that miniscule amounts of vampire venom held the secret of immortality...what he had suspected with Bella, was now confirmed.

For several weeks after Bree was cured, he would often shake his head in the middle of totally unrelated topics of conversation or even when he was alone in a room. Out of his mouth would come the same awe-struck words again and again, "Who knew? Who knew?" He was caught up in an identity crisis of gargantuan proportions. What he had thought of as poison...as venom, was actually able to prolong life. Some days he stared at the brass Caduseus on his desk for hours mumbling about snakes and immortality and venom.

Pretty soon, even Rachel decided to try it because she knew she would age much more rapidly than her werewolf husband. In one hundred percent of their small population, it worked.

Carlisle often thought about the old Bible stories he learned from his minister father. The ones about how long people lived in the early days. Methuselah for instance who, according to the Bible, lived to be 969 years old. Could there have been vampires in those day who knew what their venom was capable of doing? "Who knew? Who knew?" was all he could think as he pondered these mysteries. He even rethought some of the New Testament stories as well.

Had this miracle been discovered before the virus, it would have caused all kinds of problems with overpopulation and dwindling food supplies, but the venom would have prevented the deaths of millions during the plague. Now, with almost all of the human race dead and gone, it was a blessing and an added safeguard against extinction. It made the doctor wonder at the possibility of Divine Providence after all.

When spring had sprung and all the flowers were in bloom, Edward asked his mother to babysit Renesme one beautiful April morning while he took Bella with him to hunt. Her body remained as strong as it was before she had the baby...halfway between human and vampire...warm blooded, but strong and fast and able to heal in an instant...immortal by any definition of the word, but she was never going to be fast enough to run down a deer on foot to get the blood she needed so he continued to feed her from his own kills. As they left the house, he grabbed a picnic basket from the kitchen counter and throwing her on his back, they headed away from the settlement.

"Want to visit our meadow?" he asked her, his words a little muffled by the speed of their movement through the forest. She smiled not even bothering to answer.

She had suspected that was his plan all along from the wicked gleam in his golden eyes. But what she hadn't suspected was the surprise that waited for her in their special meadow. It was the same...encircled by tall trees, private, green and lush with varied flowers...but nestled in the trees at the far end of their own little Garden of Eden was a magnificent two-story, white house. It was the kind with a wrap around porch and gingerbread trim.

He set her on her feet so she could look at it for a moment.

"It's so beautiful, Edward," she breathed... "So very beautiful!"

"This is why I haven't brought you back. I've been working on this with Emmett and Jasper's help for quite a while now. It's completely furnished with its own power system from a waterfall about a half a mile away. I know you like being near the others, but sometimes we need our own private place, don't you think? Want to go in and look?"

"Bella was speechless...all the time he spent away from her before the baby was born...the recent frequent hunting trips...it was all to work on his surprise.

He picked her up and carried her onto the porch and to the door, leaning down to open it with one hand. Bending his head, he kissed her slowly...sweetly.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Cullen," he murmured as he carried her over the threshold.

"Oh, it's the house I've always dreamed of having..."

"I know...at night I slip inside your mind when your shield is weak, and I watch you dreaming. I saw this house in your dreams. It was already half built by the time I saw it, but I tried to get as close to what you wanted as I could..."

"Wicked man, messing around in my head when I'm asleep and vulnerable."

"If you only knew..." he gave her his most wicked smile. "It's like I'm human again and can sleep...I just lie beside you and drift through the night watching your dreams...it's very relaxing...sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"Yeah, well. sometimes it's very stimulating as well."

"That must be why you wake me up in the middle of the night so often to have your wicked way with me."

"Maybe."

"Can I look around?"

"It's yours...Esme said we could stay until tomorrow. She was in on the whole plan and did a lot of the decorating at night so you wouldn't miss her and know she was up to something."

They wandered hand in hand from room to room finding a nursery...actually two nurseries on the same floor as the master bedroom...several guest rooms, a gorgeous living room with a large stone fireplace with a great slab of marble for a mantle. In front of the fireplace lay a bear skin rug...her bear compliments of Sam's gratitude and tanning skills. The kitchen was state of the art steel with double ovens and two refrigerators...a pantry that would hold enough food to feed an army, a family room, so many rooms, Bella got a little lost.

Finally, he took her out on the porch to sit in their newly installed swing.

"We'll sit here when we grow old and watch our grandchildren play in the meadow."

"Edward," she admonished. "We won't grow old.."

"Yes, but we can pretend...and we _will_ be able to watch our grandchildren play in the meadow."

"That's true..."

The swing creaked a little as they swung lazily admiring the colorful vista of grass and spring flowers that lay before them. Birds sang and the wind whispered through the tall cedars. There was no reason to talk. They dreamed instead.

"I love this," Bella finally whispered breaking the long peaceful silence.

"Are you hungry? I brought a picnic."

"Are you?" she lost herself in his golden eyes.

"Famished...absolutely famished," he laughed as he picked her up and carried her to their new bed.

This was the first time in days that they had enjoyed some private time together. All of the demands of a new baby and the chaos surrounding Bree's illness...the twins...it had been hard to find the time to just be together.

He spent almost ten minutes just taking off her clothes. Each area of soft skin revealed a thing to be marveled upon, tasted, touched and caressed. By the time she was naked, Bella was almost shuddering with need. She kept trying to hurry him along, but he would not be hurried. She worked frantically to unbutton his shirt and pulled awkwardly at his belt buckle.

"Don't rush it," he murmured as he pushed her hands away several times. Finally, he wrapped his belt around her wrists and pull it through the buckle fastening her hands to the metal workings of the headboard. Pulling the end of the belt around the brass fittings, he placed the end in her hand so that she could easily let it slip back through the buckle and with a tug be free...if she wanted to. But she didn't.

"Now, where was I?" His patience was maddening as he placed his fingers loosely around her neck and held her throat. His lips trace a path of burning fire down from her neck to the side of her breast, across her ribs and down to the apex of her thighs. Leisurely, he drove her to brink of orgasm over and over until she thought would just turn loose of the leather belt and pull him to her, but he didn't want that and so she did not.

"Oh God! Please, Edward...now...please," she moaned.

"So impatient," he murmured against her taut belly.

"You know what I want," she told him.

"And you shall have what you want...when I decide...is that clear?"

"Yessss..." she hissed as she arched against his tormenting mouth and tongue, but at her every advance, he would retreat until she was a quivering mass of unrelieved lust.

Finally, he got to his knees and pulled her thighs over his. Her body was stretched between the head of the bed and his hard hands on her ass. He entered her slowly, carefully to hold back her impending orgasm. Once he was fully seated, he leaned forward and took her breast in his mouth. Her warm milk flowed onto his tongue and his swallowed greedily. Funny how he could drink her mother's milk when his kind were only supposed to drink blood.

"Your milk tastes almost as good as your blood."

"Please, now."

He rocked her pelvis slowly once more. He was harder than he had ever been and her inner muscles bore down on him trying to make him lose that infernal control and move against her just a little...just a little more...that's all it would take...

She groaned like a dying woman as he tore the belt from her hands and stretched his body bending her almost double so that he could reach her throat and still thrust gently inside her core. She could see him swallowing back the venom in his mouth as his head descended...so deep inside her. A slight sting and he was gulping the blood that flowed over his tongue from the small wound on her neck. They came without moving...it was magic. The pleasure was so pure, so raw, it didn't require any movement at all...they just melted into ecstasy as he entered her mind and continued to drink her irresistible blood. It lasted forever...much longer than it ever had before. Bella lifted her last shield and fell into his mind experiencing the powerful spurts of his orgasm so much more intense than any she could believe possible...the taste of her own blood on his tongue...how it felt to him as she bore down on him...double orgasms both his and hers at one time and she thought she might die of the ongoing ripples and spurts, clenches and throbs that beat through them like a wild dark tide of pleasure sweeping them so far from this world that she wondered if they might never find their way back again. He was so insensible when it ended, he forgot to lick her wound to close it, but it was already closed and healed by the time he remembered. He licked the last sweet drops from her neck and still couldn't seem to find the strength to withdraw from her. He knew he was a dead weight on top of her, but he just couldn't move after such mind numbing pleasure. Finally, she surprised him by flipping them both over so she could lay sprawled on top if him.

"I still have to breath, you know," she muttered in his ear.

He found the strength to roll his eyes at her. "Grumpy bitch once you're satisfied, aren't you?"

"Are you rolling your eyes at me? Cause you know I don't like that. You may have to be punished for such rudeness to the mother of your only child who, by the way, your friend Jake has started calling Nessie, I might add. I'm going to seriously hurt that wolf for calling my daughter by the same name as the Loch Ness monster."

With a hoot and a laugh, Edward pushed her off him and grabbing his wife and the quilt at the foot of the bed, he carried them both out to the meadow. With a wide toss and a flutter, the quilt seemed to magically spread itself out as it fell to the grass from his one free hand. He lowered her to the ground and they spent the afternoon lolling about in the sunshine as naked as the day they were born with only the trees to see them or the birds to hear them.

He touched her face where prisms of light from his skin fell in little diamond reflections.

"I think your skin is starting to sparkle like mine."

"Really?" Actually, she had noticed the faint luminescence from her skin already, but had said nothing about it...hoping he would notice."

"Yeah," He held up her arm to examine it more closely.

"Carlisle says I'll end up getting pregnant again as soon as I wean the baby. He says they nurse around two years."

"So? The condoms won't hold together. And I hate the damn things anyway."

"I'm going to name our second son Adam. I'm naming the first son after you. I hope he has green eyes like you used to have...I hope all our sons have green eyes."

"What if we have another girl."

"Well...okay, but our second son will be definitely be called Adam...I have dibs on that name."

"You're just doing that to spite Carlisle."

"Probably," she grinned.

"A baby every three years or so...let's see...if we live forever, that's going to make for a very large family."

"Will forever be long enough?" she asked him suddenly serious knowing in the darkest part of her heart that she was immortal, but not invulnerable...knowing even vampires could be destroyed.

"No, it won't," he growled in her ear. "But, Walt Whitman says, 'All goes onward and outward. Nothing collapses...and to die is different from what anyone supposed... and luckier." Sometimes, I think when two souls are meant to be together, they find each other no matter what. I believe we've found each other over and over again down through the ages. If this world collapses...if everything in it is destroyed including us, I know we'll find each other again in some other time or universe. We'll never really be apart because we have some kind of metaphysical connection that compels our souls to search until we find each other again and again no matter how long it takes."

"So, our souls like called to each other over the vast abyss of time?" she laughed, a little embarrassed but deeply touched by his words."

"Yes, my little Singer.."

"Maybe in another universe, we are just two lucky mortals who find each other, spend fifty or sixty happy years together and then die only to find each other over and over again in another incarnation... or maybe die and then spend eternity in heaven with each other? Maybe heaven is just another universe where souls like ours go to find each other again?"

"I want to believe that...I really do. I've always wanted to believe that I have a soul...and because of you, I can believe that I do ….I think you _are_ my soul, Bella...I can't imagine existing without you." He nuzzled her hair as they lay in each others arms and looked up into the clear blue sky for a long time... staring into the bright vastness of space above them.

"Me too...I think we've always been together...maybe not physically...but I've longed for you all my life even as a child... I used to have a dream of a green eyed boy who was waiting for me... smiling somewhere in a place I couldn't find ...I couldn't see his face, but I know now it was you... I longed for you without even knowing what you looked like. If the plague hadn't happened, and you hadn't found me that day at my father's grave, I might have settled eventually...married some unlucky guy and tried to get by...but I would have spent my whole life secretly longing for you...looking for you...waiting for you."

"I love you, Bella. Never forget that... even if something happens to separate us...I'll wait for you, search for you until the end of time itself."

"As I will for you."

"Yes..." was all he could say.

"So, I guess that means forever will definitely not be long enough, right?"

"No," he said pulling her warm body beneath him as he entered her in one smooth thrust. "Forever is will definitely not be long enough..." his golden eyes melted into hers... "But it will do for now."


	24. Epilogue

Disclaimer: A final thanks to Sephanie Meyers whose books and characters have inspired so many in so many ways. She dared to create a world in which love is eternal, good triumphs over evil and the supernatural slips inside your bedroom window and watches you while you're dreaming. No copyright infringement intended as always.

Author Notes:

I thought I'd leave a little epilogue before I go...just to give a hint of what the future might hold for the characters in this little fanfic. By the way...I've started writing an original novel on The Writer's Coffee Shop if you are interested in checking it out. It's called Entanglement...a romance inspired by my passionate interest in quantum physics...specifically quantum entanglement and its implications about the possibility of the existence of telepathy...sounds boring, but believe me...quantum entanglement is so strange, it may very well be supernatural.

I'm writing under a new pen name on TWCS: electra1...so, if you get bored some time, come over and check it out. The plot is built around two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth and struggle to find each other and, at the same time, save the world from an impending terrorist attack. A double romance provides twice the lemony fun as my characters fight their way through a fairly tight plot, if I say so myself, with adventure, mystery, and humor as well. If you ever had an imaginary playmate as a child, you will probably relate...if you've ever heard a loved one say what you were already thinking about... or somehow knew that someone you loved was hurt or in trouble...if you are a twin or know twins...or...evil grin...if you wonder what making love would be like with someone who could read your mind...well...come on over and give my new book a try. Once again, thanks to all of you who have followed The Blood Wars...here's one last look at ...

The Blood Wars

Epilogue

_What do you think has become of the young and old men?  
>And what do you think has become of the women and children?<em>

_They are alive and well somewhere,  
>The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,<br>And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the  
>end to arrest it,<br>And ceas'd the moment life appear'd._

_All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,  
>And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier .<em>

Walt Whitman from_ Song of Myself_

And what, my readers, do you think became of the Cullen family and their cousins...their children and grandchildren...their friends and survivors of the the Final Plague and the Blood Wars?

Well, they lived happily ever after, of course...well not completely happily...what's life without a little crisis and conflict every now and then... and maybe not ever after...I mean who's ever been to the furthest end of ever after to see who makes it to the finish line...actually there is no finish line to ever after or it wouldn't be ever after. after all, would it ? Point being that shit does happen, but most of the citizens of New Eden...that's what Seth decided they should call their little settlement...went on to find their fates in the choices they made and the accidents that befell them.

Edward and Bella did their part in repopulating the earth. They had a child almost three or four years and all of them were hybrids...but their children were not sterile as most hybrids are. They thrived on a fairly human diet and drank a glass or two of animal blood every now and then which was all they really needed. It seems their half human nature made their craving for blood only half as strong. They mated with and had families with the children of the human survivors who had been injected with small doses of vampire venom, Carlisle's newly discovered fountain of youth, and once they had gone through the change as Bella did, there was no going back. They didn't even have to keep taking the injections...Who knew? Right?

Their children were also immortal. It seems the change was hereditary. Nobody aged in the entire settlement, or got sick...and there were days when Carlisle felt a little useless especially when he wasn't needed to deliver babies. Every now and then he mourned the loss of true humans, purebred, mortal humans who grew old, sick, got wringles and died, but he knew it was an unworthy sentiment and never mentioned it to anyone. He would be the last to want the human race to go back to that

"sorry scheme of things" as Omar Khayyam put it. ….that scheme of things in which old age, sickness and death wait at the end of a every short life.

Yes, the residents of New Eden were immortal for all practical purposes. Perhaps that's what made them all a little lazy at times...there was always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, but that kept their descendants from the ambitions that had previously industrialized and polluted the world with garbage, industrial waste, smog, radiation and biochemical weapons like the virus that almost annihilated the human species from the face of the earth. So, was a lack of ambition a bad thing? Not so much. They spent a lot of time with their families, learning to live off the land without destroying it...making and raising babies... getting involved in creative endeavors such as art, music...and love...

Not that they were entirely without occasional turmoil. Jacob's tall, dark good looking twin sons Charlie and Billy who were just like their father, except for their blue eyes, grew up to be the pack's best hunters. They were very close as twins often are, but competitive in a good natured sort of way. So it was a shock to everyone when at the age of seventeen, they had the bad luck...or the good fortune... to imprint...yes both of them...to imprint on Renesme, Edward and Bella's beautiful daughter. This gave rise to an intense rivalry between the twins, and they fought over her almost to the point of killing each other several times that year. \

To make it worse, the charismatic twins pulled other members of New Eden into the conflict, as various cousins and friends took sides... which was ridiculous really because there were only three people who could consistently tell the identical twins apart, and that was Jake, Rachel and Renesme.

Nessie loved them both...always had...and the three of them were inseparable almost from birth. As kids, if darkness found them at Jacob and Rachel's cabin, they slept there...if darkness found them at Edward and Bella's beautiful home in the meadow, they slept there. Having both of them imprint on her didn't seem to bother Nessie at all... but it made Edward homicidal. Jacob and Rachel were horrified as well. But for some reason Bella was a little less surprised about it.

The two brothers fought over Edward's beautiful auburn haired, brown-eyed daughter so often that it threatened to cause a rift in the whole family. Renesme remained unperturbed by the whole conflict until it came to the fist fights between them which she absolutely would not tolerate. She refused to speak to both of them for two weeks which stopped the fighting ….and that was that. But they still argued incessantly over her.

She loved both of them... but when even her own father told her she would have to choose...she nodded solemnly and said she would think it over...then she went to her mother and asked her to shield her so her father wouldn't be prying every minute of the day to see what she was going to do. Bella complied... which drove Edward to even greater heights of homicidal intent.

But the arguing stopped mysteriously one day in June after the imprinting. No one understood why the brothers decided to call a truce, but they suddenly seemed to get along better than they ever had. Then one morning in July, Nessie's mother and father came home early from a hunting trip and found their seventeen year old daughter in bed with both brothers...sleeping soundly...naked and cuddled up between the two equally naked men.

Jacob and the rest of the pack heard it all through wolf telepathy of course, and Alice told the Cullens, so they all converged on the house in the meadow trying to prevent murder. When they got there, Nessie was clinging to the twins, so her father couldn't kill them outright. It took Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle and the whole pack to hold Edward back, and it was hours before they could get him calmed down enough for a rational discussion of the situation. Even then at one point, Edward and Jacob went at each others throats and Garrett had to freeze them until Carlisle could separate the two and start all over with the rational discussion thing.

Nessie told her father that she loved both of them...always had... and that if he couldn't accept the situation, they would leave and find their own way in the world. Rachel and Bella put their heads together, but even they couldn't come up with a solution. It was a tense two weeks to be sure.

Then during the last week in July, the wolves on patrol caught the scent of nomads in the area, but while one of the nomads led the wolves away from the settlement, four others found Edward and Bella's house in the meadow.

They found Nessie.

Unfortunately for them, Billie and Charlie had just gotten there for an afternoon tryst since Edward and Bella had taken the other kids to the Cullen house for a visit. When the pack finally chased down and killed the nomad that had led them on a wild goose chase, they backtracked and found Renesme sitting in the open meadow crying and sobbing over Charlie and Billie Black, both young men covered in blood and so near death that no one believed they would survive. Nearby were the decapitated and mangled bodies of four nomads. The two young wolves had only been phasing for a year, but they put their lives on the line for the woman they loved and managed to do the impossible...they killed all four vampires although it cost them severely. By the time Carlisle got there, they were more dead than alive.

Nessie was inconsolable...she wouldn't leave them for the entire week it took them to heal. It was a testimony to Carlisle's expertise as a doctor and the recuperative powers of werewolves in general that they didn't die.

When Edward saw how close he had come to losing his daughter and how the two werewolves had fought literally to the death to save her, he relented. Despite his old-fashioned values, he realized that the world had changed. Nomads were now traveling together in larger groups for some reason, and he realized that his daughter could do a lot worse than sleeping between two men who were obviously willing to give up their lives to protect her. He put his Victorian morality aside and gave them his blessing.

The wedding was in August. Two grooms...one very happy bride. Throughout the community the relief that the conflict was finally over was almost palpable. It was evidently a brave new world, and Edward was made even more aware of that fact when Riley confided in him during the reception that the same sort of thing had been going on right under his nose since they had rescued the humans held captive by Aro. The women survivors outnumbered the men even when the unattached members of the pack were figured in. They had kept it quiet, but two of the men...he wouldn't say who... had been having a relationship with not one but two women at the same time. How Edward hadn't noticed this with his telepathic skills was a mystery, but then he had really been focused on his family lately. Even Quil was known to be sleeping with two of the female survivors. It was shocking news, but Edward felt a little better knowing it.

After a few years, Nessie's marriage to Billy and Charlie seemed almost common place as others came out of the closet and confessed to having two wives. Edward had to admit the twins treated Nessie like a queen, and she seemed extraordinarily happy with the situation. The twins never went on patrol together; one of them always stayed to protect Nessie in the little cabin they built for her next to Bella's and Edward's house in the meadow. Over the years, Nessie had several children, but no one seemed to care if they were Charlie's or Billy's...both twins claimed them...and since the men were genetically identical, they figured what the hell...not even a DNA test could say otherwise.

The only one who seemed a bit out of sorts with the whole thing was Garrett. He had been there that day when Edward found his daughter with the two wolves, and in the chaos he was probably the only one who noticed the bite marks on the twins' necks as they quickly pulled their shirts on. He kept his secret, but realized that Nessie was feeding on her two husbands. Their first child let it slip to Great Grandma Cullen when she was just three years old and learning to talk. When Esme confided in Edward and Bella that she was concerned that Nessie wasn't adhering to a strictly vegetarian diet, they both just smiled and told her not to worry. Half vampires didn't seem to need that much blood to survive anyway. They knew the other hybrids also drank from their spouses but mostly during moments of intimacy...even Edward was wont to take a sip or two of Bella's blood on certain occasions if the mood was right and she begged him hard enough. But he knew better than to mention that to his mother.

Sam and Leah never had any children except for the two they saved, Joey and Missy, but they seemed content with the many grandchildren those two gave them. As time went by, Sam seemed to smile and laugh more often and though he never forgot Emily, he grew to love Leah more and more. One day, not long after she had recovered from her near death at the hands of Caius, they went together to Emily's grave with flowers... something they did at least once a month. As they were cleaning debris away from the grave, Sam watched Leah on her knees pulling weeds and arranging the flowers on the grave of his first love. He knelt beside her...taking her hands, he placed them on his chest over his heart and covered them both with his large right hand then set his left hand over her heart as they faced each other over the grave.

His dark eyes looked into the eyes of the woman who had loved him despite the fact that he had pushed her away, forsaken her for another, betrayed her, broken her heart and hurt her in a hundred different ways. His Emily had been a fine person, but she could never have loved him through all that...she had never been that strong...but Leah was. She had followed him, badgered him, kept him alive when he wanted to die. Despite her own pain, she had save him from himself. She was the warrior who offered her life for a bunch of humans she had never even met, and she was the warrior who had battled for and finally won his heart.

Emotion made him hoarse, but he cleared his throat and spoke what needed to be said.

"I love you, Leah...I want you to know that...I love you more than I ever loved Emily. I had no choice about the imprinting...it controlled me...compelled me...but my love for you is freely given...not a biological or instinctive urge...I'll always love Emily, but my love for you is different from anything I felt for her...I choose to love you, and I will always love you . Will you marry me?

"Yes." was all she said.

Their wedding was a wolf pack free for all. The Quileutes never drank, but Emmett spiked the punch and before it was over, there were drunken wolves phasing into naked men and naked men phasing into drunken wolves all staggering around the front lawn. Seth and Leah sipped their champagne and watched the tomfoolery with great amusement. Esme took the children inside to watch a movie.

And life turned out equally well for their children too...Little Wolf, Rose's son, married Missy although she was a couple of years older than he was at the time of their wedding. Since no one aged past seventeen, it really was a moot point anyway. It wasn't too many years before Rose got to sit with Emmett in their rocking chairs on the porch and watch their grandchildren playing in the yard as she had always dreamed.

Joey married Garrett's adopted daughter Bree although he was a little younger than she...actually a lot younger...but nobody seemed to care...after all, Edward was close to a hundred years older than Bella.

Seth married Tanya which boggled the brains of vampire and werewolf alike...natural enemies in love!

Garrett married Kate but he continued to sneak blood from unwary hybrids every now and then even though he drank animal blood when everyone was looking.

Paul and Embry never married. They ran patrols together and spent most of their free time together even bunked together in one of the Cullen bedrooms. Nothing was said, but the pack knew. In public, they hardly spoke to each other...didn't look at each other for more than a second. After a few years of don't ask, don't tell, the men in the settlement started building a cabin in New Eden just back in the trees at the edge of the settlement. Paul and Embry didn't ask who is was for, they just piled in and helped cut down the trees and fit the logs together. With vampires, it didn't take very long to build it and by the end of the first day the walls and roof were up and the infrastructure well underway.

When Esme and the women brought food for the hard working men, Paul and Embry sat down at opposite ends of the same log to eat their dinner along with everyone else. Embry's curiosity finally got the better of him. He hadn't heard of anyone getting married anytime soon in the settlement. Trying to tap in to wolf telepathy twice to see who was getting a new cabin, he found his pack mates busily doing multiplication tables while they worked.

"Hey, Jake," he asked with a mouthful of potato salad. "Who's this cabin for? I didn't know anybody was getting married."

Jake gave a signal, and the wolves stopped doing their math.

The look on Paul's and Embry's faces went from embarrassment to gratitude to excitement in a matter of seconds. After keeping their relationship on the DL for so long, it was a relief to have it out in the open. Paul stood and went to Embry. He pulled him up and hugged him hard in front of everybody. They went inside the cabin to look at it with new eyes now that they knew it would be theirs. They talked about how they wanted the interior to look and watched as Rose finished laying the hearth. When they came outside again, the pack was gathered round the door along with the other men.

"Don't think this means you don't have to help us finish it, you slackers," Jake told them, and everybody laughed. They moved in by the end of the week still amazed and pleased that their macho brothers and friends could accept them as a couple so easily...They should have realized that each member of the pack knew by now just how little control a wolf had over imprinting. That Paul and Embry had imprinted on each other was not a matter for ridicule or derision as far as the pack was concerned. It just happened, and the pack accepted it the same way they accepted Quil's two wives. It was what it was... and if they made each other happy, that was all that mattered in New Eden.

And so the number of cabins and houses as well as the population grew steadily under the protection of the pack of werewolves and the coven of vampires.

With all the baby making and birthing going on, the only blight upon the day was the fact that the already mated vampires couldn't have children of their own...the problem lay in the unchanging nature of the females...no ovulation hence no fertilization. One day, as everyone was watching the kids play a game of T-ball, Victoria, Riley's wife, kept watching the Cullens as they cheered the young players along. She saw Alice exchange an almost wistful look with Jasper, a look Victoria couldn't quite interpret. She had often watched Esme with the same expression on her face when she played with the children. By the end of the game, Victoria had it figured out.

That evening she talked to some of her friends for a while and then went to Carlisle's office to make him an offer. If any of the full vampire members of New Eden wanted to have a child, she and her friends stood ready with the full approval of their husbands to serve as surrogate mothers for artificial insemination. After all, she told him...they all owed the Cullens so much...for their rescue, their lives, their immortality, but also for their constant care and and protection from a dangerous world of bloodthirsty nomads. It was more than a debt; the Cullens were their friends, and they loved them. Their offer was a gift of love from friends who wanted to see their protectors as happy as they were themselves.

Carlisle was completely overwhelmed by the generosity of her proposal. Later that day he met with the others to present her offer to them. He knew such a thing was possible...look at Edward and Bella, but none of them would have ever broached the subject to the humans...never in a million years.

The men were a little hesitant, but Esme, Alice, Tanya, Kate, Carmen and definitely Rose were more than eager. The men made their donations and women who most closely resembled the female vampires were selected from among the volunteers. When the word got around, every single woman who had been rescued by the Cullens showed up more than willing to be a surrogate. By June of following spring, each vampire couple had their own child... a baby that had, at least, the DNA of the fathering vampire. Little Wolfe was a teenager by then, but he was as happy to have a baby brother as Rose and Emmett were to have another chance at parenthood. The surrogate mothers were proud to be able to give their protectors something they had always wanted so badly.

It seemed that everybody was beginning to get their heads wrapped around the immortality thing and really...what was nine months out of an unlimited life span if it meant making the people who had given you so much, so very, very happy.

Nessie's second son. Carl Edward. was extraordinarily gifted. Many of the other children had gifts, but Carl was a psychic tracker. He could find the location of any person whether he had met them or not by simply looking at a map. At the age of six he was playing with a globe of the world in Carlisle's library when he pointed to a spot in Arizona and said, "A man lives here in a cave with his wife. They have two puppies." Edward's face went all vampirish, as Bella often called it, and he picked his grandson up and turned to Carlisle.

"I think there are human survivors here." Edward said pointing to the map. I can see them in Carl Edward's mind. The image is too specific to be just his imagination.

"Impossible!" Carlisle told him. "After all this time? Twenty years? There's no way they could have escaped the nomads for so long."

Nevertheless, Emmett, Jasper and Edward loaded up and set out to the little town where the child had pointed, and they found the small family living in a cave outside of town. Both the man and the woman were half starved and terrified when the three vampires showed up at the mouth of the carefully concealed opening to their underground home. The man shot Emmett and Edward several times to no avail, of course which frightened the humans even more. It took a while to calm them down enough to persuade them to climb in the truck and go back home with them. As time went by, Carl Edward predicted the location of several more survivors located around the United States and one in Canada. How they had managed to survive the nomads, no one knew, but they had. They were made welcome in New Eden, but it took a while for them to adjust...having lived like hunted animals for so long. Carlisle confided to Edward that they might never fully recover.

Every few years a nomad or group of nomads would pass through their territory, but the wolves were quick to scent them, and the pack was getting better and better at fighting them ….with the help of the Cullens, of course. After thirty years, the nomads stopped coming. Carlisle speculated that they had simply gotten too weak to move without human blood...or had adapted to drinking animal blood...but the pack kept doing patrols and guarding the settlement nonetheless.

Occasionally, there were disputes, or fights broke out for various reasons. These conflicts were always brought to Carlisle and Edward for arbitration. Carlisle's mature judgment was universally respected, and Edward always read the truth with his gift and reported what he heard to Carlisle, so they made a formidable team to settle the occasional dispute fairly...but for the most part peace reigned supreme in New Eden.

One day about thirty five years after the virus, Edward and Bella were sitting on their front porch watching the kids and grand kids playing baseball in the meadow. Bella was sitting on Edward's lap as he rocked lazily back and forth. She was admiring how the summer sun shot diamond reflections from his face all around the porch and onto her skin. He looked like an angel to her adoring eyes with an aura of bright light sparkling all around him. The grandchildren whose skin only shimmered in the sunlight were always so enthralled with their grandpa's sparkly skin, but they were busy right now and Bella didn't have to share his lap with two or three grandchildren. She loved her kids and grand kids, but she often lamented about how little time she and Edward had to themselves these days. The house was always full, and she missed those times in the past when she had her husband all to herself. Bella still looked as young as she had the day they were married, and Edward still had the power to send her heart racing with a mere touch or a devilish grin. Her shield slipped, and he caught her at her erotic musings...the only indication of his arousal was a sudden hardness under her thighs and a slight tightening of his arms around her waist.

Suddenly, he stood with her still in his arms, letting her slide slowly down the front of his taut body until she stood before him looking up with brown eyes wide and brimming with love. Bending her over his arm, he lowered his head, still looking into her eyes and slowly pressed his mouth to hers in a long, long kiss. The crowd on the lawn stopped playing and watched their grandparents for a moment

Several of them rolled their eyes and made rude noises at the flagrant display of passion.

Edward ignored their loudly voiced protests of disgust at the spectacle of Grandpa Edward and Granny Bella smooching on the porch. He ignored them utterly. His lips slid to the warm skin under Bella's ear where he could feel the pulse of his universe beat against his open mouth, and he smiled broadly.

He flung her on his back, and they were gone. Amid protests and cat calls and teasing whistles, he carried her through the yard and into the forest, her red face hidden in his neck. When the world slowed enough for her to see where they were, she was standing at the front door of Charlie's old house in Forks. They had kept it pristine over the years, but they didn't visit it often. She took the key from above the door and unlocked it. Picking her up, he carried her inside, up the stairs and into her old room. Gently, he laid her on bed where he had watched her sleep so many nights... trying not to kill her...trying to desensitize himself to the irresistible smell of his singer's blood.

Her blood sang to him still...after all this time...after all these years, it called to him like a siren's song to love.

"I'm not allowed to have boys in my room," she said to him with a lascivious smirk.

"Good thing I'm not a boy." He gave her that crooked grin she loved so much as he leered down at her, stripping his black shirt over his head and pulling down the zipper on his jeans.

"Hurry," she moaned reaching up to him with both arms. Just the sound of that zipper made her tremble with desire.

"Little girl," he whispered, "You need to learn some patience."

"An overrated virtue."

"On the contrary," he smiled and opened his jeans.

"Mine!" she breathed starring in wide-eyed wonder at the beautiful proof of his desire for her.

He removed his pants and toed off his shoes... slowly ….never taking his black eyes from her the whole time.

Straddling her hips, he began to unbutton her blouse and unfasten her jeans. Slowly, he undressed her... savoring each removal as if it was an act of love in itself. When she was as naked, he turned her on her side and lay behind her.

"No, I want you on top," she protested.

" Impatient little girls don't always get what they want," he whispered in her ear and then smoothing her long hair to the side, he bit down on the tender skin of her neck.

Her heart unraveled into sighs as he nibbled and nipped the skin where he had first bitten her so long ago.

Pulling her hips back into the cradle of his pelvis, he entered her from behind in a long slow slide that made her moan and press her hips back into his long delicious thrust. She couldn't touch him from this position, and it was maddening.

He fucked her at his leisure with his hands cupping both of her breasts. His long fingers squeezed and rolled and pulled at her sensitive nipples making her groan and push backwards impaled on his steely length as she grew more and more frustrated with his maddeningly slow pace. For long moments, he didn't move at all seeming content with just being joined to her in this way.

Her hand moved down to the place where they were joined, but he pulled her it away unwilling to let her impatience rule. She knew what he was waiting for, but dropping her shield during sex had always been a little frightening to her...it was so intense...each time more than the last, and each time, she wondered if she would survive the cataclysm.

"You know what I want." His voice was hoarse as he commanded her.

"It scares me..." she moaned.

"I'll be with you," he promised and thrust again inside her slippery warmth.

And with that she let him in...

And Oh! The rapture that beat through them in the place where they were truly one. Time stopped as the pleasure multiplied back and forth between them for an eternity it seemed...in that bed where she had dreamed of him so long ago, where he had gazed with hunger on the dreaming girl who held his soul.

All movement stopped as their consciousness merged, transforming them into a single creature of infinite bliss. His mouth went to the side of her throat, and he drank her blood while his semen pulsed against the opening of her hungry womb. With each pulse she gripped him tightly drawing in his powerful essence and convulsing around him... unwilling to relinquish him even when it was finally over and they lay spent in each others arms.

"I took too much," he sighed when the power of speech had finally returned.

"Plenty more where that came from," she sighed and slept.

He held her in the long hours of the afternoon and watched over her... dreaming in his own way...remembering in his perfect memory the times and times that they had loved each other in the past. It just got better and better. Each day he lived, he wanted her more. He recalled when she fed him her blood from her own lips...the long afternoon in the meadow with the flowers...when she ran from him and he was sure he would kill her...every single place and time he had made love to her...relived in his memory as she drowsed beside him.

As the sun began to set, its red light streaming across her pale skin in the darkening room, he turned her over, and woke her up with kisses.

"Mine!" was all he said and then took her again fiercely...holding her tightly when it was over... watching the small bruises on her shoulders and thighs fade and disappear...never wanting to leave her bed, but knowing the children would be wondering where they were.

"I wish Charlie could have met you," Bella murmured as they closed the front door behind them and put the key back in its place. They stood in the purple twilight for a moment looking at each other tenderly.

"I don't think he would have liked me," Edward said softly looking away. "I know he wouldn't have wanted his only daughter marrying into a family of monsters."

"Monsters?" she laughed. "Monsters?"

"Cruel to laugh, Bella..."

"You Cullens may be a lot of things, but monsters? I don't think so. Let's see, you saved me, saved the human race, made us immortal...you protect us from nomads and provide for us in so many ways. Are my children monsters? If their father is a monster, does that make them monsters? Am I half monster? Would monsters have fought the Volturi or the nomads...tracked down survivors all over the country and brought them here to live? You had better be careful who hears you call the Cullens monsters. There are about fifty or sixty people back at New Eden who might get a little upset about it. They worship the ground you guys walk on."

"Well, if we're not monsters, what are we?"

"The fine citizens of New Eden think of you as angels, sort of…protectors...guardians."

He smiled and shook his head. "For monsters, I guess we have done a few things right. You know I used to resent that fact that Carlisle changed me...turned me into a...vampire. But now I thank God every day that he did it. Had I been an ordinary man, I never would have been able to protect you or anyone else for that matter...maybe it's time I quit thinking of myself as a monster and started thinking of myself as just another one of God's creatures...different, but able to choose how I want to live my life."

"So, no more talk of monsters?"

"No more monsters. Hey, who knows? Maybe I am an angel," he smirked.

"Oh Edward," she purred. "You're no angel..."

He pull her to him and murmured softly, "Neither are you, my dear, but I love you anyway."

"As I do you," she whispered against his lips.

And they went home.


End file.
